Beast Wars: AU
by Wicked Woman
Summary: Chapter 9: A Whole New Chapter part 1 of 2 or 3. What is it that the Predacons are trying to hide from the new Maximals? Taurus gets an unexpected surprise at base and the others are attacked from different locations. Plz Review. Ch 9 edited.
1. Victory: New ending

Author's Note: Ok, so here's what happened, I was remembering all the episodes of Beast Wars when I was thinking back on the episode 'Victory' and came up with this idea. Now the beginning will most likely be the same because I'm sticking my story into the BW episode, Victory so it doesn't confuse you (although I won't use it all I promise you) but the rest is all mine. Now with that said, on with the fic.

Disclaimer: I don't own Beast Wars or the episode Victory.

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            DinoBot had just been shot in the back (literally) by Scorpinok's missile. He slowly raised his damaged back up, as he could not feel his legs at all. DinoBot then growled angrily as he fired his laser optics at the approaching Predacons, hitting Scorpinok and Tarranchulas. The Predacon leader, Megatron leaped out of the way of the blast and behind a giant rock for cover. He charged up his Dino-head laser as another beam from the Predacon traitor's optics, ready to fire back. His plan to convener the Axalon had gone too far to go up in smoke because someone overheard his scheme now and there was no way he was gonna let it happen. Besides, there was five Predacons against one traitor, what could go wrong?

*****

            "I'm goin' after DinoBot!" Optimus Primal shouted in beast mode. Rhinox turned around just as the Maximal commander turned to leave. He could not believe what he had just heard from his oldest friend.

            "We have less than two megacycles 'till lift off." The scientist stated rather bluntly. "This ship's barely holding itself together, I can't shut it down!"

            Optimus, just two seconds from the entrance, turned back around. "I don't want you to. If we're not back in time, lift off without us!"

            "No way!"

            "That's a priority order!"

            Rhinox sighed in defeat as Optimus transformed. The Maximal commander then grabbed a shield and went down the entrance way. The lift suddenly stopped in mid way as the maximal cheetah appeared.

            "Wait up, I'll go with you! Cheetor, maximize." He transformed.

            "CHEETOR, NO!" Rhinox yelled.

            "Get back to your post, Cheetor," Optimus exclaimed. "That's an order!"

            "You can't get to DinoBot without backup," Cheetor protested. "Besides, Cybertron won't be the same without you!"

            This time, it was Optimus who sighed in defeat. "Alright," he said "just hurry up."

            "I'm your bot!" Cheetor grabbed a shield and jumped down.

*****

            Megatron fired his weapon, seizing DinoBot's continuous attack while causing him to flip onto his back. The other Predacons began to fire at Optimus and Cheetor, who had just come out of the base.

            "Cover me," Optimus said. "I need to get to DinoBot."

            "You got it Big Bot!" Cheetor began to fire in defence as Optimus used is jet mode to fly through the barrage of missiles and lasers and land down in front of DinoBot. The Predacon traitor then lifted his head to look at his new commander.

            "This…is strategically…unsound." DinoBot managed to say. Optimus then picked DinoBot up and placed him on his shoulder.

            "Tell me about it when we get to Cybertron." Optimus then began to fly up to get his fallen comrade to safety but was unable to due to getting blasted by Terrisaur. Seeing this, Cheetor lets out a growl and begins to fire upward, giving Megatron to blast him out of the way.

            "Now, to the ship!" The four Predacons on the ground began to race towards the Axalon. Suddenly, the auto guns came online and began to fire at them, first taking out Scorpinok, then Blackarachnia, then Tarranchulas and finally, Megatron.

*****

            Optimus got up from the ground to find that the energon was beginning to mess with his circuits, thus transforming back to beast mode. Suddenly, he began to hear a rumbling noise getting louder. Realizing it was the ship taking off, Optimus picked up DinoBot and began to carry him to the ship. He also noticed Cheetor getting onto the lift and noticing the ship was pulling up. He could hear Cheetor shouting out his name as the ship was beginning to lift off the ground. Finally reaching the ship, he lifted the Predacon traitor above his head and threw him onto the lift then jumped into the air as high as he could. Luckily, Cheetor was able to grab his arm.

            "Got Big Bot!" Cheetor said triumphantly. From Optimus came a nod and a smile. Little was expected as Scorpinok raised from the ground and fired a missile. The missile then hit Cheetor's arm thus causing him to let go of the Maximal leader.

            Optimus began to fall from the Axalon as Cheetor couldn't believe what had just happened. The Maximal leader then finally hit the ground. As he lay down on the ground which once supported the maximal base, Optimus could only look up helplessly as the mighty ship which once was an exploration ship left the planet without him. Optimus sat up and transformed as he noticed Megatron racing towards the ship. Wanting the others to at least head back home, he fired a missile, thus knocking Megatron down, but not before he could hit the Axalon. The Maximal then stared at the ship as it flew out of site. Thus, not expecting the punch given by the Predacon leader.

            "What an unexpected turn of event." Megatron said as the Maximal commander hit the ground. "I find your maximal spy camera, I come up with a fool proof plan to reach my goal and it all comes crashing down like a pile of flames." Scorpinok and Terrisaur lifted Optimus to his feet and held him, not letting him escape.

            "The Traitor then hears my plan and runs here to warn you!" Megatron continued to rant. "Then, when I have him at my mercy, you have to rescue him and ruin my second chance for triumph!" He then turned his back on his captive opponent. "Take him back to base. I will see to his punishment there."

            Scorpinok and Terrisaur did as they were told. Tarranchulas and Blackarachnia then approached the ever-angered Megatron.

            "So," Tarranchulas asked. "What do you have planned for him Megatron?"

            "I say we just destroy him." Blackarachnia suggested.

            "No." Megatron said as the spiders looked confused. "I must seek a better way to punish my enemy. For after I am done, Optimus Primal will wish that he had only been destroyed, yesss."

*****

            Three weeks later, the Predacons found a stasis pod in their territory and realized that Megatron's blast towards the Axalon ship prevented the stasis pods from being rescued. Finding that the spark had been extinguished, (because Rhinox and Cheetor weren't there to save it) they were ordered to destroy the protoform and bring the stasis pod to Megatron. About a week after that, the spiders had found another stasis pod and created Inferno, who's logic circuits were still dominated by his beast mode. However, they were caught and punished for their treachery. Megatron kept the pod.

*****

            It had been two months after the Axalon had left for Cybertron and the Predacons had been coping with the situation. They had received more energon, although almost half of it kept disappearing or being destroyed, and have been able to keep themselves entertained with fighting amongst themselves and hunting for prey on the planet. Suddenly, Scorpinok, who was on scanner duty, noticed a bleep on the computer. He then turned towards Megatron.

            "Sir," Scorpinok said. "I have detected four stasis pods near Grid Zaran."

            "Former Maximal ground." Megatron said. "Send the closest unit to capture them and re-program them as Predacons. And send Tarranchulas to the quordinates."

            "Yes sir."

*****

            Inferno arrived to Grid Zaran first and quickly noticed the stasis pods.

            "The royalty will be pleased with this find." The fire ant said as Tarranchulas appeared.

            "I think I'll do the honors." Tarranchulas stated.

            "I'm keeping my optics on you, spider." Inferno said. "The royalty will not accept any more treachery. As you all ready know, he doesn't have to worry about keeping anyone functional anymore."

            "Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know." Tarranchulas then walked over to one of the stasis pods and held back a chuckle. He pulled out one of the spare Predacon chips he had but suddenly heard a noise. He turned to see nothing but Inferno, watching his every move.

Tarranchulas didn't care for Inferno much, sure, he created him but his had wanted to make another one of his kind but foolishly forgot to place the spider he had in the scanner's view before putting the Predacon chip in. He had hated Inferno ever since and the fire ant being completely loyal to Megatron didn't help matters either.

Tarranchulas then turned around just to see the stasis pod hatch open up. Tarranchulas looked inside only to be grabbed by the throat by a pink and red tentacle. Inferno stood his ground only to have an orange leopard with black-spots jump right on top of him.

"Predacons," the leopard shouted. "Time for you to go down! Caterina, maximize!" with that, the leopard transformed into a medium height orange femme bot with black spots.

"Oh just great," Tarranchulas groaned as he struggled with the tentacle around his arm and neck. "I thought we got rid of the fur balls." As if on cue, another tentacle began to slap Tarranchulas in the face several times. Enraged, Tarranchulas threw out the tentacle, which belonged to a pink, red and purple squid, onto the ground.

"Burn, maximal!" Inferno said as he aimed his weapon to Caterina's head.

"You don't burn a lady, you tin-horn idiot!" came another voice. (just humor me and give this one a Texan accent) Inferno turned around just in time to see the pink, red and purple squid transform. "Name's Claw Jaw, and don't you forget it!"

The transformer known as Claw Jaw then fired ink gun at Inferno, thus hitting his optics. As the fire ant stumbled backwards, Caterina kicked Inferno over to Tarranchulas. The spider began to chucle.

"Another female huh?" Tarranchulas said. "This should be fun." Just then, a black ox transformed into another robot and lifter Tarranchulas over his head.

"You are one sick bug!" The transformer then threw Tarranchulas into a tree. Inferno began to fire until a black bull rammed into him.

"They're all Maximals?" Tarranchulas exclaimed. "What are the odds in that?"

"We must report to the royalty at once." With that, Inferno and Tarranchulas then retreated. Caterina then turned to Claw Jaw and shook his hand.

"Job well done!" Caterina said. "I am so glad we could think up this plan before those morons showed up."

"You said it littl' lady!" Claw Jaw agreed then turned to the transformed and the bull. "And who the heck are you?"

"Bone Crusher." said the transformer. He then turned to the bull. "And I don't know who the hell he is."

"Taurus, maximize." The bull transformed into another transformer. "Watch it. Let's just be grateful that we were able to come online before those guys showed up."

"Yeah guys," Caterina said. "Let's just get outta here before their boss shows up." With that, all four Maximals split up and leave the area.

*****

            "Four Maximals!" Megatron bellowed. "I could probably accept just one Maximal but four???"

            Inferno and Tarranchulas were standing before Megatron. They had just finished telling him exactly what happened.

            "It appears that the Beast Wars are back up and running, yesss." Megatron said. "Send available units around the quordinates. We must find those new Maximals as soon as possible."

            Inferno saluted and then headed off. Megatron then turned to Tarranchulas.

            "Now," Megatron said. "You are going to give me the names of all four of the Maximals at once."

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Well, that's the end of the chapter. Hopefully, it was good. If not, well… I'M KEEPING IT UP NO MATTER WHAT! BWAHAHAHAHA *cough* *cough*. Well, until the next chapter, bye.


	2. Adapting to the situation

Author's Note: Thanks to the one person who reviewed this fic. Hopefully, it'll catch on to other Beast Wars fans. On with the fic.

Disclaimer: I don't own Beast Wars.

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            It had been weeks after the four stasis pods had landed on the planet with four new enemies for Megatron to worry about. He had become more irritated every time one of his comrades had gone scouting to find them and returned to base, beaten and empty-handed. Mean while, the new maximals had been searching for a base of their own to help with their odds of winning. Bone Crusher and Taurus had found a nice cave to work with and were soon able to get a computer system hooked up thanks to the stasis pods they decided to keep. Claw Jaw and Caterina were able to hold off the Predacons while Taurus worked on the systems and found a way to create a temporary shield. Both Maximals entered their homemade base to celebrate another victory.

            "If they were them Preds," Claw Jaw boasted "then we's gonna have no problem beaten them."

            "Don't get too carried away." Taurus said. "We'll have nothing if we can't get the shield to operate permanently."

            "Kill joy."

            Taurus shook his head at the remark as Caterina walked towards him.

            "I guess it wouldn't do any good to ask how the shields were doing then." Caterina sighed. "Well, we'll need to get some defence for the base Y'know, in case the Predacons try to attack it while we're not here. And from what we read from the back up files in our stasis pods, this Megatron character seems like bad news."

            "Yeah." Claw Jaw agreed. "Ain't no way we could beat him like we are now."

            "What we need," said Taurus. "Is a leader. You know, someone to lead us into battle and make the decisions."

            "Then, why don't you lead?" Bone Crusher said.

            "Because I have too much work on my plate right now." Just as he finishes what he's saying, Taurus gets the systems online. "Well, at least this is working properly."

            "Well, we'll all have to figure out who should be in charge and fast." Claw Jaw stated. "'Cuz there ain't no way that Megatron will back down for weeks while we're still trying to decide."

            "And I have just the way." Taurus said.

*****

            Terrisaur and Waspinator fly around the area where the stasis pods had been. They had both searched the area for hours but there was no sign of which way the new Maximals had gone.

            "Waspinator thinks we should return to base."

            "You've said that for the past three megacycles and we're still here!" Terrisaur stated. "They have to be here somewhere. We just have to find them."

            "Waspinator not like this."

            "Well at least we're not at base, Megatrons been furious lately and I don't want to be at the wrong end of his laser."

            Waspinator notices something moving near a tree. "Waspinator thinks he's found them!" With that, Waspinator flies towards the tree only to be snagged by a Venus flytrap. Terrisaur shook his head in embarrassment as Waspinator struggled to get free. Terrisaur then noticed some footprints going passed the flytrap and going off in a certain direction. He then transformed and blasted the flytrap thus freeing Waspinator.

            "Get up." Terrisaur said. "I think I found something."

*****

            Taurus stuck out his hand to reveal four shreds of metal. They were at the same length at the top and weren't shown on the bottom.

            "Um, Taurus." Caterina asked. "Isn't this a little…primitive?"

            "Yeah." Claw Jaw added. "I'd think you of all bots would find a complicated solution."

            Taurus looked down at his hand. "I know it's not what you expected, but there's not other quicker solution. Now, each one of us will pick a shred of metal. We'll then reveal them. Longest one will lead the group. And yes, I'm in on this too. Now start."

            One by one, the Maximals took a metal shred. When they were done they all kept it in their hands.

            "And now."

            With that, all four Maximals opened their hands to see their shred of metal. Caterina's shred was the longest.

            "Retry!"

            "Sorry." Taurus said. "We would if we had time, but we don't. Like it or not, you're the new leader."

            "But, no!" Caterina said. "I'm not good to be leader. I suck!"

            "We don't know that." Bone Crusher said.

            "Easy for you to say!" Caterina said. "You're not the new leader!"

            "Come on," Taurus said. "I'm sure you'll do fine."

            Caterina sighed and pouted.

*****

            Tarranchulas was looking for the new Maximals while trying to stay hidden. He had no idea what they were capable of doing, seeing as only one of them used a weapon. He was still sore about being beaten by a bunch of mammals and then having to be the one to give out two out of four of their names.

            "Stasis pod detected." Tarranchulas' inner computer said.

            "Quordinates."

            "Sector 6, 2, 8."

            Tarranchulas then hurried to the area to indeed find a stasis pod there. The spider then transformed and smashed the button to his comlink.

            "Tarranchulas to Megatron, I've found a stasis pod. I'm waiting for further instructions." he teased. "Tarranchulas to Megatron, come in." Tarranchulas then gave out an evil chuckle. "All well," he said. "I guess, this one belongs to me." He then began to laugh long and hard.

*****

            Taurus was working on a new project while taking a break on the shield when Caterina walked in.

            "Hey," she said. "How ya doing?"

            "Forget it." Taurus said.

            "Forget what?"

            "Forget trying to convince me to take command."

            "Well why not?" Caterina pouted. "Why can't you be leader and not me?"

            "Because you were chosen, not me." Taurus said. "And besides, it's not far to the others to take it without their knowledge."

            "Actually, I've already tried Claw Jaw and Bone Crusher. They refused too."

            "Oh." Taurus continued to work on his project. Caterina walked further towards the council.

            "I've thought up some reasons as to why I shouldn't lead."

            "Don't care."

            "Number one," Caterina said while ignoring Taurus' remark. "I'm too young. I'm about a quarter of all your ages."

            "It's better to try something while you're still young."

            "Number two, I'll mess up. I'm way too clumsy."

            "Mistakes are to learn from."

            "Number three, I suck at fighting. I'm better at exploration."

            Taurus turned off the sincro laser and stood up. "You'll get better. I know this is new to you and you're a little nervous about leading a group of Maximals who came online at the same time as you but you'll get used to it. And if the Predacons do attack, you can take out you're emotions on them."

            Before Caterina could answer, Claw Jaw entered to room. "Aw, she didn't ask you too?"

            Taurus rolled his optics.

            "Anyways, littl' lady, we's got problems."

            Caterina sighed and left with Claw Jaw and Taurus. When all three of them reached the council, Bone Crusher turned around.

            "It's about time. The Preds are attackin'. We'll have to defend the base."

            "Just my luck." Caterina sighed. "Alright. Maximals, uh…um…slag, what was it called?"

            "Counter attack?" Claw Jaw asked.

            "Yeah that! Let's move out! Counter attack!"

            "I'll stay here and try to get the base online." Taurus said.

            "Ok." With that, Caterina, Bone Crusher and Claw Jaw leave the base. Taurus then activated the shield.

*****

            Outside, Megatron, Scorpinok, Terrisaur, Waspinator, Inferno and Blackarachnia were firing at the base. Caterina, Bone Crusher and Claw Jaw appeared.

            "Ah, so her we are." Megatron exclaimed. "The new Maximal base, with only _three_ Maximals ready to defend it. What's wrong, did the other one have second thoughts?"

            "Oh brother." Claw jaw muttered.

            "So you are Megatron huh?" Caterina guessed. "I thought you'd look a lot bigger."

            "A clever remark, I must say. However, I have the feeling that this battle will end shortly. Predacons, open fire!"

            The Predacons began to fire at the three maximals defending the base.

            "Maximals!" Caterina shouted. "Uh…choose a Predacon and um…fight?"

            Claw Jaw and Bone Crusher go their separate ways. Claw Jay fired his ink gun, thus blinding Waspinator. Terrisaur began to fire at Claw Jaw, who ran and jumped into a lake. Bone Crusher tackled Scorpinok down and threw him over to Inferno. Scorpinok hit Inferno of course but the fire ant didn't go down.

            "Fool." He gloated. "You think you can harm the defender of the colony?"

            "Huh?"

            "You shall burn!" Inferno then set his gun of fire mode. "For the glory of the royalty."

            "Now you're talkin' crazy."

            Inferno fired at Bone Crusher, who dived out of the way. Caterina landed in front of Blackarachnia.

            "Well, well," she smirked. "The Maximals finally found a femme bot of their own."

            "You're a femme bot?"

            A low growl was the black widow's response as she fired her weapon. Caterina jumped out of harms way and landed behind Blackarachnia.

            "You'll never get a guy lookin' like that." Blackarachnia then turned around only to be backhanded by the cat bot. Caterina then transformed to beast mode and raced over to the black widow only to see her move out of the way the second she got close to her. The leopard then fell off the edge. Blackarachnia then got up and walked over to the edge only to have her leg grabbed and be thrown off by Caterina. The Maximal leader could only watch the black widow spider fall to the ground.

            "I don't care what she says later," Caterina stated. "That hurts." She then climbed up the edge to safety only to find Megatron standing right in front of her.

            "I assure you," Megatron said. "You will be feeling pain as well, yesss."

            Megatron then tried to hit her with his missile launcher. Caterina then jumped over the tyrant and landed behind him. Before she could hit him from behind, Megatron turned around and hit her with laser. Caterina then hit the ground.

            "I thought you had honor."

            Megatron gave her a growl as he fired his laser at her only to see her roll over just in time.

*****

            Taurus finished hooking up two matching pieces of machinery to each side of the wall. He then looked at the computer and noticed that his comrades were in trouble.

            "Uh oh." He said. "Looks like this'll have to wait."

*****

            Terrisaur was hovering around the lake, trying to find any sign of his target.

            "Come out, come out where ever you are."

            Claw Jaw emerged from another lake and jumped onto Terrisaur.

            "Let me go, Maximal!"

            "What ev-er you say, partner!"

            With that, Claw Jaw caused Terrisaur to land on the ground and swung him around until he couldn't hold on any longer. Terrisaur then flew over to Inferno and caused them both to fall off the cliff edge.

            "Thanks, but I could've handled him."

            "Sure ya could." Claw Jaw smirked. "Let's just find the boss lady an' see if she needs any help."

            Caterina hit the ground again. She slowly sat up as Megatron walked towards her while laughing. She got up and began to fire at Megatron with her gut gun (yes she has one too) but kept on missing. Megatron then backhanded the feline and sent her tumbling to the ground.

            "You thought you could defeat me?" Megatron said. "How amusing."

            Caterina sat up again just as she noticed someone behind Megatron on a higher story.

            "Have you any words before you are terminated?"

            "Yes." Caterina smirked. "See ya."

            With that, Caterina moved out of the way just as Megatron was body-slammed by a bull.

            "Thanks. But I didn't contacted you."

            The bull transformed to Taurus.

            "I thought you could use some help."

            Megatron stood up as he growled. "Perhaps you aren't the most impressive group of Maximals I have ever faced, but you do however have some talents, yesss. Fortunately, it will not last for long. Predacons, retreat!"

            The remaining Predacons get up and leave the area. Waspinator then landed on Inferno and Terrisaur. Bone Crusher and Claw Jaw walked over to Caterina and Bone Crusher.

            "Hey," Claw Jaw said. "When'd you get here?"

            "Long story." Taurus said. Suddenly, Bone Crusher and Claw Jaw began to surge with energon.

            "What in tar-nation?" Claw Jaw asked.

            "What's happening?" Bone Crusher said.

            "What are you guys talking about? I feel~." As if on cue, Caterina developed surges of energon. "Taurus," Caterina said. "What's happening?"

            "Well, according to the Maximal records," Taurus said. "It's an energon surge. It occurs when we're in robot mode too long. You'll have to transform before you go into stasis lock."

            All three Maximals transform to beast mode.

            "We'll have to conserve our time in robot mode when we're outside the base. I was able to create a ruptor out of scratch but we may not be so lucky."

            "I guess you're right, Taurus." Caterina said. "Return to base. We'll have to figure out how we're gonna win this war."

            All four Maximals return to base.

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That's the end of the chapter. Please review. I would really appreciate it and I will try to get the next chapter out soon.

            Until the next chapter, bye.


	3. Changing ways

Author's Note: So I was bored, sue me. On with the fic.

Disclaimer: I don't own Beast Wars.

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Tarranchulas placed the Predacon chip into the pod, thus replacing the Maximal chip he had taken out earlier. He then walked over to his computer.

"Computer, scan for beast modes using Predacon base power." Using the scanners, Tarranchulas' computer scanned the area. It found the DNA of a preying mantas. Tarranchulas, seeing the form and giving up on trying to find another one of his kind, decided to keep it.

"Create replica immediately."

"Confirmed."

After a few seconds, the stasis pod hatch flew open as a dark figure came out from inside of it. Tarranchulas began to chuckle.

*****

Caterina was in beast mode and in a tree looking for Predacons. So far, she hadn't found any wondering into her territory.

"Let's see a leader go on a scout mission." She muttered as she continued to look around at the scenery. "Well, at least the view's good."

Caterina suddenly thought she heard something.

"Predacon energy signature: detected." Caterina then jumped down from the tree, transformed and hid. Waspinator then appeared, in beast mode.

"Waspinator not see any Maximals." He said as he searched the area. He then noticed something behind a tree. He moved behind the tree to find nothing. Caterina had moved around the tree to prevent the wasp from finding her. Waspinator moved around the tree, as did the young leader. This continued three more times until Waspinator decided to turn around. He saw nothing. He started to look around the area, thinking that the Maximal was still there. Caterina then jumped onto Waspinator then jumped to the ground.

"Hey, you're pretty good at hide n' seek."

"Waspinator not want to play hide and seek with cat-bot. Waspinator will slag cat-bot." Waspinator then transformed and began to fire. Caterina dodged the blasts and began to fire back.

"And you thought because I was a _young_ leader, I wasn't gonna be able to kick you~"

"Terrorize!" Suddenly, Terrisaur swooped down and transformed to robot mode. He began to fire his weapon as well.

"Aw man." Caterina then climbed the tree and jumped onto a sandy hill. She began to fire at the two flyers.

"Just what I mean," she said. "The two idiots shooting at me." As Caterina shot Waspinator onto the hill, Terrisaur noticed that the ground underneath Caterina and transformed. He then swooped down towards the new Maximal leader, who moved out of the way and witnessed Terrisaur going through the hill and making a big hole on the top.

"Ya missed me!" As if on cue, Caterina and Waspinator fell through the cracks below them. Both transformers fell to the ground of what was revealed to be a cave.

"Look what that slaggin' femme bot did!" Terrisaur complained. "Now were trapped until our beast modes can repair us."

Caterina quickly stood up angrily. "Me?" she bellowed. "You're the one who tried to hit me!"

Waspinator got up and transformed to beast mode. "Well cat-bot moved out of way."

"Well how was I supposed to know that this was a cave?" Caterina gave a heavy sigh and sat in the corner. "Now I'm stuck in a stupid cave with not one, but two Preda-creeps."

*****

Claw Jaw was using the computer scanners to find Caterina. She should have been back at base megacycles ago but didn't return or even contact them. Taurus entered the room.

"Still no sign of her?" Taurus asked.

"Not a single fur or whisker, Taurus." Claw Jaw stated. "Could she've been under a Pred attack?"

"It's possible, but she would've contacted us if she were."

"I'll wait another megacycle," Claw Jaw said. "I she doesn't contact us by then, we'll search for her."

"I'll let Bone Crusher know."

Taurus left the room as Claw Jaw started to scan the area again.

*****

Megatron was watching a re-play from Scorpinok's cyberbees and noticed Terrisaur, Waspinator and Caterina fall in a hole on top of a cave.

"Hmmm," he said. "If I am correct, then that means that Waspinator and Terrisaur actually did something right."

"You call falling into a cave something right?" Blackarachnia commented.

Megatron turned towards Scorpinok, Inferno and Blackarachnia. "Ah indeed it is. For I believe that Caterina maybe the new, and inexperienced Maximal leader. And without her, the other Maximals will not know what to do."

"Sounds like the Maximals drew straws to decide who would lead." Scorpinok muttered.

"Silence." Megatron said. "With the leader unable to be found, at the cost of two blundering idiots, we should be able to attack the Maximal base…without a problem at all, yesss."

*****

Caterina was kicking dirt and rock around as she sat in the corner, trapped with a couple of Predacons who couldn't even win a turtle race. She turned to the flyers and noticed them talking. She tried her best to block out whatever kind on mindless dribble they were saying but couldn't.

"Waspinator hate being trapped in cave."

"It's better than fighting Primal, that's for sure."

Caterina's audio preceptors perked up. She lifted her head and turned to the flyers.

"Terrisaur have good point."

"Hey! Scrap-for-brains!" Both Terrisaur and Waspinator turn towards Caterina, who was now standing up.

"What do you mean by 'Primal'?" she asked. "Who's name is Primal?"

Terrisaur and Waspinator exchange glances. This was the first time Caterina said anything after calling them 'Preda-creeps'.

"What's it to you?" Terrisaur replied. Caterina looked up above them.

"Yeah," Waspinator agreed. "Waspinator not see cat-bot helping us."

Caterina then looked by the wall and the ground and smirked. "Tell ya what." She said. "You tell me who this Primal guy is, and I'll show you a way out I just found."

Terrisaur and Waspinator once again exchanged glances.

"Forget it." Terrisaur said.

"Fine," Caterina smirked. "Stay in here with me. See if I care." Caterina then turned around to walk back to her spot in the corner.

"Wait!" Terrisaur's words stopped a smiling Maximal leader in her tracks. Caterina turned around.

"Yesss?"

"Hold on a sec." Terrisaur and Waspinator huddled as Caterina whistled and leaned on the wall. After a few seconds, both flyers broke the huddle and faced the Maximal femme bot. Caterina stood up straight.

"We've decided that we'll tell you, but _only_ after you show us the way out."

"Let me know about this Primal guy first, then, and _only_ then, will I show you."

"No way!" Terrisaur said. "You'll just trick us."

"It's against the Maximal code to trick anyone." Caterina then noticed that Terrisaur and Waspinator weren't buying it and shrugged. "Fine, don't believe me." With that, Caterina sat back down and started to kick more sand.

*****

Taurus and Bone Crusher both entered the room, finding Claw Jaw setting up his weapon.

"Been over an megacycle?"

"Oh yeah." Claw Jaw said. "We's got to get our leader lady back!"

Suddenly, there was a missile fire and the base began to shake.

"Apparently, Megatron figured it out before we did." Taurus said as he grabbed his weapon. "Move out."

The other two nod and raced out with Taurus.

*****

Outside the base, the Predacons were firing at the base as the shield came online and the only two auto guns began to fire. Taurus, Claw Jaw and Bone Crusher hid behind some stacked up rocks and return fire while nearly getting hit. Claw Jaw actually got a chance to fire and the ink hit Megatron in the optics. Bone Crusher and Taurus turned towards the pink, purple and red squid.

"What?"

All three guys moved out of the way of the following blasts. Taurus ran to the edge of the woods where he was then grabbed by a pair of tongs. Bone Crusher and Claw Jaw could only watch helplessly as their friend was lifted up into the air and thrown towards a tree. A green preying mantas then appeared.

"Mantorr: Terrorize!" With that, the preying mantas now known as Mantorr transformed to robot mode. Megatron was finally able to get the ink out of his optics and noticed the new Predacon just as Tarranchulas appeared. Megatron turned to the arachnid.

"Where have you been?" Megatron bellowed.

"I was re-programming the protoform in a stasis pod I found, into the new Predacon, Mantorr." Tarranchulas responded quite calmly.

Megatron then turned to the new Predacon. "Who is your allegiance to? Tarranchulas or myself?" There was a long silence before Mantorr answered.

"I, Mantorr am loyal to you Megatron. I shall destroy any enemy in your way."

"Very well." Megatron then turned to the remaining two Maximals. "These two have been a pain in my side for the past few weeks. I want you to terminate them."

"As you command." Mantorr got into a ready position and began his attack.

*****

Caterina was still sitting in the same spot. She had given Terrisaur and Waspinator an option and she was getting nowhere. So instead, she decided to buy her time until they either died or the flyers finally caved, which ever came first.

"Ok."

Caterina looked up at Terrisaur and Waspinator.

"We'll go first."

A tryumphint smile came over the Maximal's face as she sat up.

"But cat-bot has to keep bargain." Waspinator added.

"Sure." Caterina said. "I'm a Maximal, right?"

"His name isn't Primal though, it's Optimus Primal." Terrisaur began. "He commanded the Maximals on their ship called the 'Axalon', where you and your friend's stasis pods came from."

"Predacons shot down Maximal's ship so Maximals do same for us. Had to find beast modes to prevent energon surges." Waspinator continued. "But one day, Predacons play dead and Maximals steal parts from Predacon base to repair own ship."

"We were planning on stealing the Axalon from the Maximals but the traitor, DinoBot found out and went to alert the Maximals." Terrisaur added. "And to keep things short, Optimus got left behind and the other Maximals, and DinoBot, returned to our home, Cybertron."

"Cybertron?"

"Alright," Terrisaur said. "We told you about Primal, now you have to show us the way outta here!"

"Yes." Waspinator said. "Maximal promised."

"Ok." Caterina said. "But if it doesn't work, you can't go ballistic on me." Caterina walked over to the wall of the cave. "Ok, Terrisaur, you fly up to the wall."

Terrisaur reluctantly flew up to the wall. Caterina then turned to Waspinator.

"Now you, lay on the ground."

Waspinator looked at her suspiciously.

"You wanna get out or not?"

Waspinator then laid down on the ground. Caterina then jumped on Waspinator then flew up, and bounced off Terrisaur and out through the hole she came out of.

"Thanks boys."

"HEY!" Terrisaur yelled. "You said it was against you're code to trick us!"

"Yeah." Waspinator said. "Cat-bot did say that."

"But I didn't trick you." Caterina said. "This was the way out. I just had to go first 'cuz I'm no flyer."

Terrisaur growled as Caterina jumped down from the hill, transformed and ran.

*****

Bone Crusher hit the wall as Claw Jaw fired his weapon to defend himself. Mantorr merely laughed as he walked closely towards the squid, picked him up and threw him over to Bone Crusher. Taurus got up, dodged Mantorr's attack and slammed him to the ground. Megatron growled as he began to charge his weapon and fired it at the Maximals. All three of them scattered. Bone Crusher came up from behind Megatron, grabbed his dino-head laser and threw Megatron down to the ground. Taurus fired at the other Predacons, along with Claw Jaw.

Megatron: Predacons! Retreat!

The Predacons then got up and left the area. Then, out of the bushes, Caterina arrived in beast mode.

"What have you guys been up to?"

"Long story." Taurus said. "Where have you been?"

"Stuck in a cave with the village idiots and going completely insane." Caterina answered. "Guess we're all pretty good."

"I guess." Claw Jaw said. "But Megs has a new playmate on his side."

"And there's no telling what would happen if Megatron gained all the other stasis pods here." Taurus added.

"It's obvious we'd have a whole bunch of Preds around us, that's what would happen." Bone Crusher pointed out.

"Hey guys." Caterina said. "It's obvious that there's probably gonna be a way better Maximal for the job, so how about we have no leader until we find that right bot, huh?"

The other three Maximals exchange glances and then turned to Caterina. "NAW!"

All three Maximals headed back to base, leaving Caterina with her jaw hanging.

"But…hey…wait!" Caterina protested. "I…I'm no good at this! I mean…I got trapped for megacycles with a bird brain and a…an idiot!" The other Maximals kept going towards the base, while ignoring Caterina who was still ranting. "Hey…how about…you strip me of my commanding powers…and I tell you some really important info I found…Hey come on! No fair! At least wait up!"

With that, Caterina raced back to base as the other three began to laugh.

_______________________________________________________________________________________

Well, that's the third chapter. Let me know what you think. I'll try to update soon. Until the next chapter, bye.


	4. Wolf Fang

Author's Note: Yes I'm still alive. Ok, I have a perfectly valid reason for being late. I had a lot of work to do at my co-op placement.

Chibi WWLSE: And her beta reader didn't send back the chapter.

WW: Yeah, but he warned me about his busy schedule so I'm not paying attention to that. And I would've updated it then altered it when it was corrected but the disk I was using wasn't formatted to the chapter is stuck in the disk forever—unless I reformat it but then it will be lost forever…so I wrote it up again.

Chibi WWLSE: You what?

WW: *gags Chibi WWLSE*

Chibi WWLSE: *_#*

WW: Here are the shout outs.

**SHOUT OUTS:**

**Trinial**—You already know what my answer is. I'll try e-mailing later.

**The-Crab**—You actually love it? Great. Now update your stories.

Well, here's chapter 4, enjoy.

Disclaimer: I don't own Beast Wars. I only own two characters: Caterina and Taurus.

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            On a distant planet away from Cybertron, in the lush green jungle behind a dark swamp and open fields, there was a cave with a transparent shield covering around it. Inside the cave was a dug in fortress with a small amount of computers around a council table. Around the table, stood four transformers. Caterina, the new and less-experienced Maximal leader, was telling her comrades about her discovery from 3 hours ago.

            "…and that's about it." Caterina finished. She wasn't too thrilled with talking for hours on end but it was an important issue and she couldn't just keep it to herself.

            "You expect us to believe this slag?" Bone Crusher bellowed as he stood up.

            "Well…yes." Caterina looked down at her feet.

            "Bone Crusha gots a point there littl' lady." Claw Jaw said calmly. "I mean, we're talkin' 'bout Terrisaur and Bug-Eyes. They's could be lyin'."

            "But… they're not!" Caterina protested.

            "And how would you know that?" Bone Crusher scoffed. "And don't even try sayin' that they told you so."

            "They were as much desperate to get out of that cave as I was."

            "Bull." Claw Jaw said. He then noticed Taurus looking up. "Uh, no pun intended."

            "Thanks," Taurus said. "I think. And I think the Preds weren't lying."

            All three Maximals turn to their scientific friend.

            "I've heard about Optimus Primal. He has a lot of potential. He could've fought in the army but instead chose to join the exploration team."

            "Boring." Catering muttered.

            "Let me finish." Taurus said. "Anyways, the ship, which was actually called The Axalon, left for a mission but vanished."

            "So?"

            "So," Taurus glared at Bone Crusher, having enough of being interrupted. "Two megacycles after the Axalon left, there was a report that a group of Predacons on a ship." Taurus looked at the files from the stasis pods he had been reading. "Apparently, they had just stolen the golden disk. That ship disappeared too."

            "What's yer point?"

            "My point is that Megatron's ship could be the ship who stole the golden disk. And Optimus' crew followed them by order."

            "Oh." Caterina said.

            "So, where are them Maxis workin' with Prime's Descendant?"

            "I have no idea." Taurus admitted.

            All three Maximals turned to their leader.

            "Hey, I don't know either. Wait," Caterina said. She then thought for a second. "Terrisaur and Waspinator did mention something about how the Axalon left planet and Optimus was left behind." The maximal feline then gasped. "That means Mega-Moron may be after him!"

            "Why?" Claw Jaw asked.

            "Because he's an Optimus."

            "So?"

            "So, it's a well known fact that all Megatrons will want to kill all Optimus'." Caterina remarked.

            "So," Taurus said. "You're sayin' that we need to find Optimus before Megs does?"

            Caterina nodded.

*****

            "Hmmm, it appears that the Maximals are more resourceful than I expected, yesss." Megatron was pondering in his floating chair while his troops were standing on platforms in front of him. After a few cycles, Megatron turned his attention to all of them.

            "I want you to find every single pathetic Maximal and bring them to me." He ordered. "I do not wish to have to deal with anymore nuisances." All the Predacons nodded and left.

            "The only other thing I am interested in are those stasis pods. I must find them all to ensure that there are no more Maximals for me to deal with. Four is more than enough as it is, yesss."

*****

            Taurus was now in his quarters working on his secrete project. It had already been three days straight since he began to work on it.

            "Now, if I can just get some peace and quiet…" Suddenly, Claw Jaw ran into the room.

            "Can't you see I'm busy?" Taurus said.

            "Sorry. But I just wanted to report that I found a monster load of energon."

            "Great." Taurus said. "Just leave it in the command center but give me about two handfuls of it, okay?"

            "You got it." Claw Jaw rushed out of the room as Taurus smirked.

            "That odd to keep him away from here for a while." Taurus then went back to work on his project. Claw Jaw then came back a few cycles.

            "Here's the energon ya wanned." Claw Jaw said. "Hey, what's that?"

            "It'll help us with our problems if I can finish it." Taurus simply said.

            "Oh, ok then." Claw Jaw then left the room. Taurus then picked up the sincro laser when suddenly…

            "HEY! TAURUS!"

            Startled, Taurus dropped the laser and sighed. "That's it."

*****

            Terrisaur was flying in the air, trying to find any sign of any Maximal.

            "I've been searching for them for megacycles and I haven't found anything." He grumbled. "Why doesn't Megatron do his own slaggin work instead of playing with that stupid duck!"

            Terrisaur then landed in the jungle, where Inferno and Mantorr was.

            "What was that, drone?" Inferno asked.

            "No sign of the Maximals." Terrisaur said. "They're not dumb enough to show up in the open like this… well, maybe the last crew was."

            "The royalty has given us a mission." Inferno said. "We must honor his words and do as he says." With that, Inferno left further into the jungle. Mantorr went after him, leaving Terrisaur behind.

            "He'd probably shoot himself in the head with his own weapon if Megatron ordered him to." He muttered, then began to flap his wings and fly off.

*****

            Taurus and Bone Crusher were both walking in the Jungle, in beast mode.

            "I guess I'm glad you came out to scout the area with me." Bone Crusher said.

            "Well, I had to get away from Claw Jaw and his continuous ramblings."

            "Better than Caterina beggin' one of us to take over command."

            "Good point." Taurus then looked up to the sky. "Wish it was like this."

            "Wish what was like this?"

            "Cybertron. The sky here is so beautiful, though I have to admit, I'd go nuts without computers and technology and stuff like that."

            Bone Crusher shrugged. "I guess. Personally, I don't care what my surroundings are. I guess that's why I was best suited for this mission."

            Taurus nodded. Suddenly, the internal computer beeped.

            "Warning: Stasis pod: Detected. Grid: Zarmetra."

            "Back to work huh?"

            "Oh yeah." Taurus answered. Both Maximals then ran off north. They then came across a stasis pod in the middle of the jungle. The pod looked like it landed properly. Taurus transformed and walked over to it.

            "Computer," he said. "Activate DNA scanner."

            "Unable to comply." The pod's computer responded. "DNA scanner is offline. Repairs must be made to scanner to scan for lifeforms."

            "Great." Taurus sighed.

            "What?"

            "The DNA scanner needs repairs if we want to find this guy a beast mode." Taurus walked over to the pod and opened up the scanner department. "This is gonna take some time."

            Bone Crusher turned around to find Terrisaur, Inferno and Mantorr all transformed and weapons aimed to them.

            "Uh, we're a little low on the 'time' scenario there, Taurus."

            "Just great." Taurus said. Bone Crusher transformed and fired a torpedo out of his mouth. All three Predacons dodged the attack.

            "You work on the machine, I'll handle the idiots."

            Bone Crusher began to fire multiple missiles at the enemies. Terrisaur rushed in to destroy him but the Maximal ox grabbed the Predacon by the foot and threw him as far as he could. Inferno was about to set fire to Taurus when Bone Crusher picked him up and threw him back to the ground, making a large body print of him. Mantorr got back up and growled angrily at the Maximal.

*****

            Caterina was walking in another part of the jungle in beast mode.

            "How can I warn them that there are Preds near their position when their comlinks are off and I can't find them." She stopped walking and sat up the best she could in her Jaguar mode. "If I ever find those two, I swear…"

Suddenly, she sniffed the air. "Hey, I found them." Caterina moved further into the bushes and saw a dark figure.

            "Well, I found something." Suddenly, the figure came out of the shadows to reveal that it was a blue and silver wolf. It began to growl at the Maximal leader.

            "N…n…nice wolfy…"

            The wolf licked its lips. Caterina the realized what was on the menu and darted out of there with the creature close behind her.

            "Whoa, whoa, bad wolfy!!!"

*****

            Bone Crusher failed to tackle Mantorr down but wasn't about ready to give up. Mantorr laughed long and hard as the Maximal tried, unsuccessfully, to hit him.

            "Is that all you can do?" He scoffed.

            "Shut up!" Bone Crusher spat. "I didn't win the Cyber-tech prison Wrestling match just to be punked by some freak with pincers."

            Bone Crusher then jumped for the Predacon again but Mantorr got the best of him again. He grabbed him in a lock hold and began to squeeze his enemy."

            "What was that you were saying, Maximal scum."

            Meanwhile, Taurus was just finishing repairs on the DNA scanner.

            "Come on, come on…"

            The red light on the right then changed to green.

            "Yes!" Taurus then closed the hatch. "Computer. Activate DNA scanner."

            "Activating."

            Mantorr was literally squeezing the life out of Bone Crusher. He didn't know how long it would be before his arms were literally ripped out of his chestplate. Mantorr laughed maniacally as he began to squeeze harder. Then, out came Bone Crusher's scream.

            "It is no use escaping. I will win and I will take you're Maximal hide back to Master Megatron!"

            Suddenly, Mantorr was head butted by Taurus, losing grip of his victim and slamming through several trees. Bone Crusher hit the ground as Taurus began to pant.

            "Took…you…long…enough…" Bone Crusher wheezed

            "Better…late…than…never…" Taurus coughed. "…why…did…Megs…get…the…powerful…warrior? It's…"

            "Lemme guess, not fair?"

            Both Bone Crusher and Taurus looked up to see Terrisaur flying back over towards them.

            "No lifeforms, detected." Terrisaur heard the message from the pod and began to laugh.

            "Oh, this is rich." He squawked. "I'll get to destroy the two of you _and_ get a new Predacon in the ranks as well." Terrisaur then aimed his weapon at both Maximals. "Prepare to…"

            "Hey…hey…HEY! WILL SOMEONE PLEASE GET THIS THING AWAY FROM ME!!!"

            Terrisaur turned around just in time to see Caterina running out of the bushes with a very hungry wolf chasing after her.

            "PLEASE WOLFY! DON'T EAT ME! I'M NOT LUNCH!"

            Suddenly, the stasis pod began to beep rapidly and began to scan the wolf, who stopped in his tracks, whimpering in fright.

            "NO!" Terrisaur screamed.

            "YES!" Bone Crusher and Taurus cheered. Terrisaur then walked up to the wolf.

            "Why you little…" Terrisaur the fired at the wolf, who dodged and ran back into the jungle. Terrisaur smirked in triumph until Caterina transformed and pounced on him and began to punch him several times.

            "I don't care what he tried to do to me…" Caterina then began to hit his head on the ground. "You…don't…hurt…WOLFY!"

            Taurus and Bone Crusher looked at their leader dumbfounded. No one noticed the stasis pod hatch opening up. Terrisaur threw Caterina off of him and got up. Only to be thrown down again by a wolf. Bone Crusher began to snicker even as Terrisaur rolled onto his back and was face to face with the wolf, baring his teeth. Taurus and Caterina aimed their weapons at Terrisaur and Bone Crusher cracked his knuckles.

            "I'll be back!" Terrisaur then transformed and flew off. Taurus and Bone Crusher began to suffer from the energon surge and transformed back to beast mode. Caterina then ran to the wolf and hugged him.

            "WOLFY!" She cried with excitement. "YOU'RE OKAY!"

            "Let go of me."

            Caterina let go of the wolf in shock.

            "Wait," Taurus said. "you can talk?"

            The wolf then transformed into a white, silver and blue robot. "Of course I can, and my name isn't 'Wolfy' it's Wolf Fang."

            "Oh," Taurus said. "Well, my name is Taurus, this is Bone Crusher and our leader, Caterina."

            Wolf Fang pointed to Caterina. "She's our leader?"

            "Not anymore!" Caterina said excitedly. "You are now!"

            "Nice try kid!" Bone Crusher said.

            Caterina began to groan. "Well, why not?"

            "Because I just got here." Wolf Fang answered.

            Taurus looked up at the sky. The sun was setting. "We'd better hurry." He said. "By now, Terrisaur's probably tell Megatron what our whereabouts are."

            All three of them nodded. Caterina and Wolf Fang transformed back to beast mode and headed back to base.

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Once again, I'm sorry for the late update. Plz review. Until the next chapter, bye.


	5. Odyssey

Author's Note: Ok, so I am a little late updating this story (not like anyone's really reading it anyway but I will continue to write it) so here's the latest chapter.  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own Beast wars, just my original characters. ____________________________________________________________________________ ___________  
  
Caterina and Claw Jaw were showing Wolf Fang around both the base and the area around it. It was similar to scouting but it felt more like a tour to the silver wolf.  
"Interesting base. a cave."  
"Not just a cave." Caterina said. "A cave with a spare replifier we found, along with some computer systems we put together from our stasis pods which had several information of."  
"Ok, I get it." Wolf Fang then turned to Claw Jaw. "Does she ever shut up?"  
"I will if someone else becomes leader."  
"Not this again." Claw Jaw started but never finished due to the flashing lights inside. When they stopped flashing, Caterina was on the other side of a tipped over council (the table) and Claw Jaw was lying on the ground after hitting the wall. Wolf Fang was the only one who was ok.  
"What the slag was that?"  
Before either maximal could answer Wolf Fang's question, Taurus entered the room.  
"Guys, and girl, I've got something to show you."  
All three maximals entered Taurus' room to discover a huge machine in the corner across from his recharge bed from the stasis pod he had been in.  
"What's that?"  
"It's a Containment Restoration Chamber, or CR chamber for~."  
"We know that." Caterina said. "I mean, what is it doing in your quarters?"  
Taurus sighed, he'd have to explain it a different way than he expected to. "I thought about how we all could get damaged close to scrap metal so, I searched for a method to help us out and found schematics for the CR chamber. If the Preds can have a way to restore themselves, then we will too.  
Bone Crusher then entered the quarters. "Hey, guys what the slag are ya doing in her-what the slag is that!"  
Claw Jaw stepped on Bone Crusher's foot.  
"Is it tested?"  
Taurus turned his attention to Wolf Fang. "That's the smartest question I received all day. Now, who wants to help me test it?"  
Claw Jaw, Bone Crusher and Wolf Fang pointed to Caterina.  
"Oooh no!" Caterina argued. "But you've been damaged. Remember the power glitches?" Wolf Fang pointed out. "Not me!" "Come on, kiddo! You gots ta." "No can do!" "You're gonna." "Sorry."  
"Please?"  
"Not gonna!"  
"We'll have someone else be in charge." Taurus bargained.  
"Ok! Let's do it!" Caterina raised her arm up. She then walked into the untested CR chamber as the hatch closed behind her. Taurus then took the opportunity to knock on the frame.  
"Oh and uh, I had my fingers crossed."  
Caterina began to bang on the door in anger for being tricked.  
"Sorry, too late now." Taurus turned on the power.  
"Now, while our leader is being repaired, I hope, would someone please tell me what our mission is?"  
"Well, ya see." Claw Jaw started. "We's been havin' Pred-a-con difficulty since we's all been brought online, ya hear? Well, We've all been doin' our done right best to keep them varmints outta our base. Then, the boss lady found out that there was a crew that we's all come from, who plum well just left fer Cybertron."  
"Not to mention that the original commander of the crew, Optimus Primal, was accidentally left behind and has been MIA ever since." Taurus finished. "We just have to find him."  
"I see. So how did Caterina become in charge?"  
"They cheated at drawing shards!" Came a faint answer from the CR Chamber. "Is it supposed to take this long?"  
"Depends on the injury." Taurus replied.  
"Never mind, it's done." Caterina said. "So, how do I get outta here?"  
"The door is supposed to open when it's finished..." Taurus scratched his head. There was no response.  
"Uh, Caterina?"  
Silence.  
"Boss lady?"  
Still silence. Suddenly there was more banging on the door as the now panicking leader screamed out: "GET ME OUTTA THIS PLACE RIGHT NOW TAURUS!!! YOU ARE SOOOO SLAGGED IF YOU DON'T!!!"  
Taurus suddenly went to work trying to get the chamber hatch open. He then turned to the others.  
"Uh, you bots might wanna go back to your duties, I don't think she'll be out for a while." Taurus said as he tried every button on the panel.  
  
*****  
  
Wolf Fang leaped out of the base while transforming to beast mode. It was his turn to scout for any Predacon activity. He was just thankful that he didn't have to scout with anyone else for he preferred to go out alone.  
"Warning, Predacon: detected." His internal computer informed him. Wolf Fang began to follow the signature in case the Predacons found this Optimus character and if they did, he'd have to strike.  
  
*****  
  
Tarranchulas was in beast mode, looking around the scrap metal in the area to see if he could salvage anything important, if any. He hadn't been too thrilled with Megatron's idea to wait until the Maximals finished repairing the ship to attack. He had known that it would turn out disastrous one way or another but had kept quiet about it in fear that Megatron would suspect something, not that he hadn't know that he did. Tarranchulas had begun to curse under his breath while continuing his search when suddenly:  
"Maximal energy signature: detected." Tarranchulas began to chuckle as he transformed and hid between two rocks. Waiting for the opportunity to shoot down one of the newer, less skilled, Maximals, he readied his weapon and silently dared of them to find him. To his misfortune, Tarranchulas heard a click. I hadn't activated my weapon yet, he thought. So why would I have heard it charging up? Tarranchulas then turned around to end up face to face with a long-range missile launcher. He looked up to see the owner, a transformed Wolf Fang.  
"Now," the maximal said. "What would a Predacon like you be doin' all the way out here, away from your territory, in a place like this hmm?" Wolf Fang charged up his weapon. "And I want the right answer."  
"No," Tarranchulas snickered while charging up his gun. "You want a one-way ticket to oblivion!" Tarranchulas was about to aim his weapon but it was blasted out of his claw and he followed afterwards. Dark, transparent smoke came out of Wolf Fangs launcher.  
"And that, would be a wrong answer." He sneered.  
"And you are out of your league, Maximal scum!"  
Wolf Fang turned around to see who said that and noticed Megatron, along with Terrisaur, Waspinator and Inferno.  
"So," Wolf Fang smirked, "you must be Mega-scum."  
"Megatron!"  
"Yeah, whatever."  
"Yes, and what would you be doing here on former Maximal territory? There is nothing else here."  
"What?" Wolf Fang looked around his bearings and noticed a huge piece of metal with the letters: A, X and A on it. "This must've been the area where the maximal ship was." He muttered.  
"Enough talk." Megatron said. "I suppose it is time for a little victory. FIRE!"  
All four Predacons standing began to fire of Wolf Fang, who slinked behind a bolder as to not get hit. Suddenly, he noticed gunfire aimed in front of him. He looked up and saw Inferno flying in the air, courtesy to his flight mode.  
"Ah, you will burn, Maximal! FOR THE GLORY OF THE ROYALTY!!!"  
"Ah, shut up!" was the response as Wolf Fang fired at Inferno and hit him directly in the electrical systems, which activated the flight mode. Inferno then plummeted off the cliff. During the battle, Tarranchulas suddenly came to and noticed a Demolition charge lying on the ground. He picked it up and chuckled as he set it and threw it over to Wolf Fang.  
"Wolf Fang to base! I need reinforcemen~!"  
Wolf Fang noticed the charge seconds before it exploded. However, the only down fall was that Waspinator was in the line of the blast and fell into several pieces. Wolf Fang landed face first in front of Megatron, who only noticed that Tarranchulas was there just that moment.  
"Tarranchulas!" Megatron growled. "What are you doin-Never mind." Megatron grabbed Wolf Fang by the back of his neck. "We now have a Maximal before us and I shall not waste anytime in terminating him. However." Megatron pulled him up face to face with Wolf Fang. "What are you and your comrades up to?"  
Wolf Fang remained silent. He knew that he would be blasted if he gave him a snide remark and he also knew that he wouldn't be able to handle any more damage. He also wondered how Tarranchulas got his claws on a Demolition charge.  
"ANSWER ME!" was what made him turn his head back to Megatron's face. Suddenly a blast from the back caused Megatron to let go of Wolf Fang. Megatron turned to see Claw Jaw and Bone Crusher standing by the other side of the area.  
"Not so fast Megetron!" Claw Jaw shouted.  
"Step away from the Maximal!" Bone Crusher didn't even wait for any response as he shot down Terrisaur. "NOW!"  
"I think not, nooo."  
"Oh, no," Bone Crusher smirked. "We shot down your uh, remaining flyer." He noticed the pieces of Waspinator on the ground. "And the spider over there seems spent. How are ya gonna get outta this?"  
Megatron gave the two a smirk before he picked up the unconscious maximal near him and had him over the cliff edge. "You can destroy me, however, your comrade won't live to see a sunrise. You may try to save him. But I may drop him. So, you have no choice but to let me and my comrades go."  
Bone Crusher was about to take one step closer but Claw Jaw stopped him.  
"We can't risk it."  
"Listen to your friend." Megatron said. "Then again, you have no right to trust me."  
It seemed to go into slow motion as Megatron let go of his prisoner and watched as he fell. He then turned to his comrades.  
"Retreat at once." The Predacons ran off as Bone Crusher and Claw Jaw ran over to the cliff.  
  
*****  
  
Wolf Fang was plummeting down the cliff that he had been dropped off of by Megatron. He was beginning to come to but kept slipping in and out of stasis lock when suddenly, a silver clawed hand grabbed a hold of the fallen maximal. The owner then placed Wolf Fang onto a ledge sticking out of the cliff and vanished.  
  
*****  
  
Claw Jaw was climbing down the cliff while Bone crusher held onto his foot.  
"How much further?" he groaned.  
"Just a little further." Claw Jaw then noticed that their comrade landed on a ledge. "Hey! I see him!" Bone Crusher let go and Claw Jaw landed safely onto the ledge. He picked up Wolf Fang and began to climb back up. Bone Crusher was waiting impatiently for Claw Jaw to climb back up with their comrade so they could hurry back to base.  
"Come on, come on!"  
He then saw Claw Jaw climbing up the cliff side. "I got 'im! Almost there!" Claw Jaw then slipped and was about to fall when Bone Crusher grabbed a hold of his hand and pulled him back up. Bone Crusher saw Wolf Fang unconscious then turned his attention to Claw Jaw.  
"I think we should take him back to base, Now."  
  
*****  
  
Wolf Fang walked out of the CR Chamber, fully repaired. He looked himself over as the other Maximals watched him. Taurus and Caterina had taken the CR Chamber out of Taurus' quarters and into the command area.  
"Well, I'm glad you're okay." Taurus said.  
"I'm glad I'm not stuck in CR Chamber, and that we don't have to say good bye to you already." Caterina said. "You can go rest before you give me your report."  
"No, I'd rather do that now." Wolf Fang said. "They're on to us."  
"What?" Taurus said.  
"Megatron suspects that we're looking for Optimus. He was in the same area that the old ship was in before the old crew left."  
As Wolf Fang continued to explain to Caterina and Taurus about what happened, Claw Jaw pulled Bone Crusher out of the room and into the built hallway.  
"What?"  
"Lissen," Claw Jaw said. "Wolf Fang landed on a ledge stuck in the cliff side."  
"So, that was lucky."  
"Not lucky, luck had nuthin' ta do with this. Someone saved him and left 'im on that ledge fer me ta get him."  
"Seriously?"  
"You betcha." Claw Jaw then looked back into the room to see Taurus, Caterina and Wolf Fang were still deep in their conversation. He then turned his attention back to Bone Crusher. "Look, I's think that it would be best if we didn't say none a word to the other's 'bout it."  
"Ya sure?"  
"Yeah."  
Bone Crusher turned to the wall, then back to Claw Jaw. "Alright. But I don't want this goin' back to me. If they find out, I'm gonna tell them this was your idea. Got it."  
Claw Jaw nodded, and that sealed the deal. ____________________________________________________________________________ ___________  
  
Please Review. 


	6. Base Infiltration

Author's Note: It took me almost a week to write (due to writer's block) but I've finally updated.

Disclaimer: I don't own Beast Wars.

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            At the sight where the original Maximal's ship used to be in, Caterina, Taurus and Claw Jaw went to work searching for parts, which could be useful to their own base. Claw Jaw picked up a piece of the ship that was left behind.

            "Well," Claw Jaw turned to Taurus, showing the piece to him. "'least they left their callin' card."

            "Keep searching," Taurus said. "there should be something around here that will be of some use."

            "We've searched everywhere. I don't think we'll find anything."

            "I've found 18 Demolition charges." Caterina beamed, trying to lighten the mood but the result she received was Claw Jaw slapping himself in the head. "Well, it's something." Caterina turned to Taurus. "Do you really think we'll find anything here important? Like a part of a security system?"

            "They probably took that do-hickey with 'em." Claw Jaw stated.

            Taurus looked around and noticed a black box with the Maximal ensigna on it. He covered it as he turned to his leader and comrade. "Um, you guys can go back to base and relieve Wolf Fang and Bone Crusher. I'll uh, take care of things here."

            "Ya sure?"

            "Yes."

            Claw Jaw turned to Caterina, who just found a large gun on the ground.

            "A real Cyber-techno power laser shooter!" She said. She then picked up a familiar gun. "Waspinator's gun! This will be a great addition to my gun collection!" Caterina began to walk away with her loot as Claw Jaw picked up a green, black and yellow piece of metal from the ground.

            "Here's a piece of Waspinator. Ya want it Boss Lady?"

            "No way!" Caterina said. "What do I look like? Some kind of… loot… collecting…type…bot?" She walked off as Claw Jaw dropped the piece and ran after her. When he was sure they were gone, Taurus turned his attention back to the black box. He began to clear some of the dust off of it.

            "It couldn't be…" He muttered to himself.

*****

            Terrorsaur was playing cards with Waspinator, who was winning a great deal of chips when Inferno entered the area.

            "What are you doing Drones?!" He bellowed. "The Royalty will not be pleased about this!"

            "Ah, he's busy playin' with his rubber ducky." Terrisaur said. Inferno then aimed his weapon at Terrorsaur's face. Waspinator just looked at the both of them, grabbed his chips and walked away as Terrorsaur argued his case to Inferno.

            "Look, we all know that Megatron does absolutely nothing around here except talk to himself. We do all the hard work and he either takes the credit or blasts anyone in his path. It just depends on how the plan goes. I would be a much better leader. I would attack the Maximals, which is how we would draw them out~"

            "And which is why you'll never be in charge."

            Terrorsaur turned around to face Megatron. The red and silver Predacon gulped as Megatron took one step closer. "So," he said. "I do nothing but talk to myself, hmmm." Megatron grabbed Terrorsaur by the neck. "WELL THE ONLY REASON WHY THAT IS THE CASE IS BECAUSE I AM SURROUNDED BY FAILERS!!!" Megatron then threw Terrorsaur over to the wall. He then turned to Inferno, then Waspinator who had almost been out of the area, then, finally, Scorpinok, Taranchulas and Blackarachnia, who had been unfortunate to have just entered the area just after Megatron threw Terrorsaur.

            "We are all in a battle with four—no, NOW IT'S FIVE Maximals and we haven't won a single battle except for ONLY ONE PROTOFORM!!!" Megatron turned to Terrorsaur who was just getting up and walked towards him. "Do I make myself clear?"

            Terrisaur could only nod. His low growl came after Megatron was distances from him.

            Inferno followed Megatron. "What is your next plan, royalty?"

            "I think I'll wait for someone to think it up, before I take the credit." Megatron glared at Terrorsaur with a smirk. "Or beat whoever's in my path. Depends on how the plan goes." Megatron then left the room.

*****

            The cave was empty besides the computer, council and CR Chamber. There wasn't a single sound except for every footstep Taurus made as he entered the now deserted base. He put down the black box he had found by the Maximal's ships last where a bouts before it left the planet and looked around. He then put down the large piece of the ship Claw Jaw found as he walked over to the computer. He noticed a blinking light and knew immediately that there was a message left on it. He pressed a button on the computer and saw Caterina on the screen.

            "Hey," she said. "I thought that now was good time to test out the machine. Um, now what was I gonna say. Oh, right! Um, Claw Jaw and I weren't able to contact Bone Crusher or Wolf Fang so we went out to find him. If you get the message, then look out for Predacons, they might still be sore 'bout what happened yesterday. See ya later. Now, how do you turn this off?" Caterina tried several buttons until the screen went black. Taurus sighed, picked and the box, then went to his quarters.

            "We definitely need a security system."

*****

            "Ya think Taurus got yer message?" Claw Jaw asked through his comlink. Caterina was on the edge of a cliff, hoping that she would be able to see any sign of Bone Crusher or Wolf Fang. She had sent Claw Jaw to swim over to the other side of the bay in case they had gotten themselves lost.

            "Maybe." Was her response. "Like I said before, I was testing it. So I have no idea."

            "We've been testin' a lotta thangs since we came online." Claw Jaw exclaimed. "That's our disadvantage. We're still a-learnin' 'bout our systems while them Predacons have ammo time ta keep thinkin' up strategies to beat us."

            "But it hasn't worked so far." Caterina pointed out. "So what does that tell you?" She then giggled. "I can picture Megatron throwing little temper-tantrum in his quarters every time he loses to us. He might even be crying!" Caterina began laugh out loud and long until a missile hit the cliff she was standing on. She leaped back so she would fall then noticed Inferno flying towards her.

            "How dare you insult the royalty!" He bellowed as he fired at her again. The young leader dodged the attack, transformed and fell to the ground. Caterina then turned back to her comlink.

            "Um, Claw Jaw!" she yelled. "Inferno's attacking. I think I kinda hurt his feelings." Caterina pulled out her gun and began to fire back in defence.

            "Don't worry boss-lady! I'm on my way!" The comlink then turned off as Caterina got up. Inferno landed right in front of her.

            "FOR THE GLORY OF THE ROYALTY!!!"

*****

            Wolf Fang stepped on another mini spider as Bone Crusher wiped off the webbing he had on his shoulders.

            "Slaggen spiders!" Wolf Fang growled. "Their radio transmitters are interfering with our comlinks."

            "Ya think this is one of Megatron's plans?"

            "I dunno, you've known him longer than I have. What do you think of him? Is he more of a threat than I saw of him yesterday?"

            "Personally," Bone Crusher said. "I think he's a~"

            Both Maximals then heard gunfire near their area. Both then transformed to conserve energy and ran off towards the sight.

*****

            Caterina was now playing tug-of-war with Inferno's gun. Claw Jaw was now there and he was trying to help by firing at the ant's back. Inferno the activated his flight mode and watched as Claw Jaw stumbled back and fell. He laughed psychotically as Claw Jaw attempted to stand up. Inferno de-activated his flight mode and continued to struggle with Caterina for control of his weapon.

            "Give it back, enemy to the Royalty!"

            "Hmmm. Ok." Caterina let go and watched as Inferno stumbled back, tripped over Claw Jaw and fell off the cliff. Caterina then helped her comrade up.

            "You ok?"

            "Yeah." Claw Jaw said. "Man, you sure know how to play dirty."

            Just then, Bone Crusher and Wolf Fang ran passed the trees. The two of them stopped and saw that Caterina and Claw Jaw were fine.

            "Aw." Bone Crusher wined. "We missed all the fun."

            Caterina was about to explain what happened when they noticed Blackarachnia transforming to robot mode and pulled out her weapon at the four surprised Maximals.

            "The fun's only beginning, Maximals." She grinned.

            Bone Crusher transformed and took one step towards her when Wolf Fang transformed and stepped in front of him.

            "We can't. She is a female."

            Blackarachnia smiled as she came closer to pulling the trigger.

            "Well," Caterina smirked. "I'm female too." She then lunged at the female Predacon. Claw Jaw was about to move in to help when Waspinator shot him down.

            "Why you tin-horn…" He began to fire back at the wasp as Bone Crusher and Wolf Fang noticed Inferno flying back up laughing.

            "Burrrrn in the flames of Inferno!"

            Bone Crusher and Wolf Fang exchanged glances.

*****

            Scorpinok rushed into Megatron's quarters where the Tyrant was disturbed from his sleep. "Megatron!" he said. "Blackarachnia and Waspinator report four Maximals near our territory."

            "Only four?" Megatron got up from his seat and turned to his second in command. "That must mean that the fifth and final Maximal must still be at the Maximal base." He muttered. "And with such a weak shield, we should be able to defeat them easily, yesss. Scorpinok. Have Terrorsaur, Taranchulas and Mantorr meet us by the Maximal base location."

*****

            Both Bone Crusher and Wolf Fang had Inferno pinned down as Claw Jaw raced to cover from Waspinator. The Predacon bug had continually succeeded in blasting anything Claw Jaw had raced for. The Maximal squid was finally able to climb a tree, jump and tackle the enemy to the ground.

            "How'd ya like that, bug-bot?"

            After, failing to reach his weapon, Waspinator grabbed Claw Jaw by the arm and threw him over towards Inferno, knocking down Wolf Fang.

            "Excellent work." Inferno saluted. He then felt a light tap on his shoulder. He then spun around to find himself face to face with Bone Crusher.

            "I'm still here, remember?" With that came a left hook.

*****

            Caterina was behind a boulder while loading up her gun as Blackarachnia was firing at her. The Maximal feline was looking through her ammo to find the right size and power.

            "Come out, come out, where ever you are!" Blackarachnia taunted as she continued to fire her arm-spider legs missiles at her target.

            "Taurus has it easy…" Caterina began to rant to herself. "…he gets to stay back at base and sit on his—oh great, I'm throwing temper tantrum like Mega-chump." Caterina dodged a couple of rocks, which broke off her cover.

*****

            Taurus was interrupted from looking at the new item he had found when he heard someone shooting at the shield. He came out of his quarters and down the hall to find Taranchulas, Terrorsaur and Mantorr were attacking the base, trying to enter. Taurus then ran back through the hall and into the command center of the base. He then got to the computer and entered some activation codes.

            "What a time for something like this." He grimaced.

*****

            The shield finally shut down just as Megatron and Scorpinok showed up. The Predacon laughed in triumph.

            "That Maximal might as well just surrender right away." He scoffed. "How do these worthless Maximals expect to defeat me when they can't even build a sturdy defence systems?"

Terrorsaur moved forward towards the base but was suddenly hit with an electric charge. The other four Predacons stood behind in shock as their comrade fell to the ground.

"What is this?"

*****

            Taurus chuckled as he heard the electric wall he installed go off. "Not the best defence." He then typed in another code. "But it'll have to do." Taurus then ran to another computer and started to type in more codes.

*****

            Megatron fired his T-rex laser at the defence wall and smiled as it went offline. The leader then turned to Taranchulas and Mantorr. "Find the Maximal and obliterate him."

            Taranchulas and Mantorr entered the base cautiously, as to not walk into another electric wall. Mantorr then stepped through an invisible red line and was hit with an auto gun. Taranchulas, not wanting to go through that, jumped over the line and stepped in a covered hole. Megatron growled in disgust as he moved on.

*****

            Blackarachnia went behind the boulder to find that Caterina wasn't there. She searched the surroundings for the new Maximal leader but found nothing. A soon as the black widow spider felt someone tapping her on the shoulder she spun around and came face to face with the enemy.

            "Hello." Caterina smiled, looking suspicious.

            The next second, Waspinator was knocked down as Blackarachnia was thrown onto him. Claw Jaw looked over to his saviour and smiled. Both Maximals then charged up their weapons and moved out to help the other two.

*****

            Taurus rushed over to his comrades' quarters, closed the doors and locked them. He then rushed back into the command center and set the defences on alert. He knew that this wouldn't hold them off, but it was something. Megatron was now inside the base and Taurus was not about to surrender to a fossilized, foul tempered, megalomaniac like that. He rushed into his quarters and started looking for an alternative firearm. He knew that is rifle wasn't gonna do slag and would be defeated easily if he used it. Taurus was about to leave when he noticed the black box he left at the foot of his recharge bed.

            "Now or never."

            Taurus ran over to the box and began typing in any and every code he knew. When he couldn't get it, he picked up the box and threw it to the wall. When that didn't work, Taurus gave up and sat back on the bed.

*****

            Megatron entered the command center and was immediately ambushed with five automatic slingshots, shooting rocks and stones at him. Megatron then growled in anger as he caught a rock, hurtling towards him, and threw it back at the machine, shutting down the defences.

            "You think you can beat me?" Megatron sneered with anger. "I would have simply taken you as a hostage but you have pushed me over the top!" The Predacon leader then proceeded by tipping the table over as he continued to move on.

*****

            Taurus could hear Megatron shouting at him as things fell to the ground due to his rage.

            "The Maximals who were actually _flying_ the Axalon where a better opponent than you and your pathetic rookie comrades." Megatron's voice boomed through the hall. "Prepare to be destroyed, Maximal scum!"

            Taurus' head then perked up. He ran over to where the box had been thrown and typed in 'Axalon'. The lights flashed green, symbolizing that it was correct as the lid opened up. The object inside almost made Taurus laugh with delight.

*****

            Inferno finally got Wolf Fang, who had transformed to beast mode and was biting the fire ant's arm, off of him and threw him over to where Bone Crusher was just getting up. Inferno then began to laugh long and hard as both Maximals slowly got back up. Wolf Fang let out a low growl as the fire ant picked up his gun from the ground.

            "Fools." He bellowed triumphantly. "The two of you cannot defeat me!"

            Just then, Caterina and Claw Jaw jumped over their comrades and jumped on Inferno. While the two of them were hitting the enemy and attacking his blender-jet mode, Bone Crusher and Wolf Fang took the opportunity to push the ant off the cliff. Bone Crusher grabbed a hold of both Maximals as Inferno plummeted down the cliff side without a working flight mode. All three transformed to beast mode.

            "Ya guys wanna head back to base now?" Wolf Fang asked.

            "We actually came here to find you guys." Caterina said. "Where were you two anyway?"

            "In spider country." Bone Crusher replied sarcastically. "Man, if I see one more web, I'll slag every spider on this planet!"

            All four Maximals then started back to base.

*****

            Megatron was at the long hallway of the Maximal base when Waspinator reported their failure. He was not too thrilled to hear that they lost yet another battle but at least he was in the base was would soon have a hostage to bargain with. All was not lost. Megatron was however getting frustrated with all the locked quarters but grinned when he saw a door slightly opened. The Predacon leader slammed open the door but found no one there. He was about to turn and leave when Taurus swung down from the ceiling and kicked him down. The Maximal then flipped over the enemy and landed in front of him. Megatron was just getting up when he found himself face a pair a very familiar chain guns. The only difference was that these pair was black.

            "You don't even wanna mess with me!" Taurus growled.

            Megatron's frown turned into a smirk as Terrorsaur, Taranchulas and Mantorr all entered the hall.

            "Ah, but my fortune has changed, yesss."

            To both Taurus and Megatron's surprise, Terrorsaur, Taranchulas and Mantorr were followed in by Caterina, Bone Crusher, Claw Jaw and Wolf Fang, all transformed and weapons in the open.

            "Get out of my house." Caterina said through clenched teeth.

            Megatron growled as he and his comrades then left the base. Megatron, with a clever smirk secretly placed on his faceplate, was the last one out. When they were certain that the enemy was gone, the Maximals all lowered their firearms. Claw Jaw was the first to notice Taurus' new weapon of choice.

            "Well, I'll be a hog-tied boar. Taurus, where in tar-nation did you get that thar fira power?"

            Taurus looked down at the chain gun he had in each hand. "What? These? I found them after you left. I figured that we should have more firearms on our side."

            Wolf Fang looked at Bone Crusher, and both shrugged.

            "I call dibs!!" Caterina announced.

            "Nuh uh, get your own."

            Taurus then walked into his quarters, placed them back in the box and pushed the box underneath the recharge bed. He then came out and faced his comrades. "I'm gonna work of the security system. Don't want this happening again."

            The other four then proceeded to follow him into the command center, but only to begin cleaning up the mess the Predacons had left them.


	7. A Snake in the Fold

Author's Notes: Thank you for the reviews and I'm glad that you liked the little surprise I gave you with the black box. Enjoy.

Disclaimer: All I own is the place where I type my stories… wait, no I don't.

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            Taranchulas was making a few adjustments to Mantorr in his hidden lair near the Predacon base. Thanks to the security grid the new Maximals had, Mantorr had obtained serious damage due to the effects of the auto gun that the Maximal, Taurus had found from the wreckage at the former location of the Axalon. He didn't want to even think about what was in store inside the cave. Taranchulas figured that if the grid had made Megatron upset, then the Maximal bull was as good as the last technical genius—almost.

Mantorr just got up from Taranchulas' workbench and looked at his repaired body. "If I _ever_ fight that Maximal again…" He grunted in anger. Being shot by a measly little weapon annoyed him to no extent. If he ever saw Taurus again, he would have his revenge.

"Calm down Mantorr," Taranchulas said. "After all, it wasn't your fault you were easily brought down." He quickly hid a treacherous grin before facing the newest Predacon. "It was that stupid Maximal and his cheap parlour tricks. And Megatron's incompetence doesn't help matters either."

The mantis turned to his comrade with sheer interest. "You see," Taranchulas started. "I was able to scan your exo-structure and came across an incredible discovery."

"Really?"

Taranchulas turned on his computer and brought up a copy of Mantorr's schematics. "You see, your system is somehow different from any other Transformer I've seen on Cybertron or this planet." The spider then pointed to the torso. "Apparently, your strength depends on the might and power the leader has. Since our leader is Megatron, well… I can understand why you've lost every battle you entered."

Mantorr was confused by the scientific discovery his comrade had come across but since he had close to no intelligence in the current category, he decided to acknowledge it. "So…" he asked. "You're saying that… because Megatron's incompetent, I haven't been at my fighting potential?"

Taranchulas nodded. "Which is why I suggest you work with me, in secret that is. So once we overthrow that tyrant, we can choose a new leader depending on how much stronger you get. Of course, you mustn't tell anyone else about your structure or of this plan. They're all too blind by Megatron's words. Only when the time is right can they be informed."

"Right." Mantorr said. He then transformed to beast mode. "I think I'll report to our 'leader' now." With that, the mantis was gone. Taranchulas chuckled to himself as he turned to his computer. "What a pathetic fool." He turned on the computer, which showed a slightly different schematic of Mantorr. "And to think, all I needed to do was make a few adjustments to his schematics and he came into my clutches. A special strength indeed." The spider then let out an evil laugh that echoed though out the entire lair.

*******

            Caterina picked up one of the automatic slingshots that had been connected to the main one, which was completely destroyed by Megatron's missile. She turned to her comrade Taurus.

"Um, maybe you should try _not _connecting the defences to each other." Caterina said.

"Well, I was about to fix that problem when the Preds attacked the base." Taurus stated. Behind him, Bone Crusher put down another piece of the Axalon he had been told to retrieve after their latest encounter with Megatron's troops.

"Was that before or after you were looking at your new weaponry?" He asked. If Taurus had been human, he would've begun blushing from embarrassment.

"Well I've already put away the chain guns." Taurus said. "No way I'm gonna be using them again."

Wolf Fang and Claw Jaw had just put down a pile of energon. They both had come in as Taurus finished his comment.

"Why bother doing that?" Wolf Fang asked. "They did some actual damage to the Predacons last time." He walked up to the others with Claw Jaw close behind.

"Yeah, Ol' silver's got a point thare." Claw Jaw stated. "They're actually 'bout tha only thangs actually helping us win… well barely."

"But they're not mine." Taurus said. "I shouldn't have even tried to crack the code to the case."

"Well, if they're not yours, then who's are they?"

Taurus turned to his leader. "I'll need some confirmation before giving out that piece of info. I don't want to give anyone the wrong answer." Suddenly, the alarm rang out.

"Warning: Stasis pods detected, Delta Quadrant."

All five Maximals turned to the computer as if on cue.

"YEE HAW!" Claw Jaw shouted with excitement. "We's get's our sixth comrade!"

"Maybe even more." Bone Crusher added. "The computer did say 'pods' as in more than one."

"Then again," Wolf Fang stated. "Delta Quadrant _is_ in Predacon territory after all. No doubt Megatron's already heard the message too."

"Claw Jaw." Caterina said. "You haven't had a real mission yet. You go find the pods and welcome the new recruits. The rest of us will deal with Megatron."

*******

            At the Predacon base, Megatron had indeed received the same message the Maximals had. He figured that the new protoforms would make an excellent new addition to the Predacon cause. The tyrant had been loading a disk he had recently taken from the Maximal's base, which he referred to as a cave, when the alarm had sounded.

            "What a better way to celebrate my new found information than to reprogram Maximals, yesss. What could be a better achievement?" Megatron said with glee. Suddenly, his computer activated.

            "File loading: Completed."

            "Ah, speaking of which," Megatron typed in a few codes and received the information downloaded with great interest. After a few seconds found something of more interest than Maximal codes and future defences. "Ah, so that's what they're looking for." He said.

            Mantorr entered the base and transformed.

            "Ah, Mantorr." The tyrant greeted his comrade. "What excellent timing. I have an important mission for—." The computer alarm came online again.

            "Warning. Maximal energy signature detected."

            Megatron growled with frustration. "Oh of all the rotten—!" Megatron turned to his comrades. "Forget the old strategy. You defend the perimeter. I'll go after the pod myself." The Predacon leader transformed to beast mode and ran out of the base.

            "Taranchulas was right." Mantorr said to himself. "Megatron is incompetent."

*******

            Most of the Maximals were near the Predacon base, in beast mode while waiting for any bit of company they found.

            "Are you sure this is a good idea?" Taurus asked Caterina. "I mean, what if they all just gonna go after the pod?"

            "Megatron isn't dumb." The Jaguar said. "He'll leave a few comrades back at base to protect it. And send at least one of them over to pods and try to reprogram them. So they'll show up to defend territory."

            Suddenly, a missile almost hit Wolf Fang, missing him by only a few inches. The silver wolf hit the ground next to Taurus. Caterina turned to her comrade with a smirk across her face.

            "See."

            Inferno, Waspinator, Terrorsaur and Mantorr flew by firing their weapons at the enemy. Blackarachnia and Scorpinok were on the ground running towards the Maximals position while charging up their weapons. The Maximals transformed and prepared to defend themselves.

            "Gee, ya think these Preds actually practice before every battle?" Bone Crusher said sarcastically. "Their aim's getting' better!"

            "Just keep an eye out for any missing Preds." Taurus yelled back. Caterina pulled out one of the demolition charges she found and threw it over to Inferno. The blast damaged the fire ant, but he still kept charging. Wolf Fang shot Scorpinok but ducked in cover from Blackarachnia's cyber venom.

            "Hey!" Wolf Fang stated. "I can't see Megatron or Taranchulas!"

            "Just great!" Caterina said. "Just when I think Megatron couldn't be more of a creep, he gives himself the easy job!" Caterina dodged another blast from Waspinator. Growling with annoyance, the Maximal leader aimed her weapon and fired at the bug, blowing him up into tiny pieces. "Aw, I almost feel sorry for him!" She and Taurus ducked down when Terrorsaur used his laser eyes on them. The Maximal scientist gave his leader a look of shock.

            Caterina merely shrugged. "Hey I said _Almost_!" Caterina ducked from another fire blast.

*******

            Claw Jaw reached the Delta Quadrant without any hassle, of course he started to wish that he had a better beast mode. He didn't have time to worry about it, he had a mission to accomplish. After a few cycles of walking, Claw Jaw was able to find the area. There lay two stasis pods on the ground.

            "Aw, only two?" Claw Jaw quickly hurried down to where the stasis pods were and transformed. "Guess I'd better hurry it up b'fore tha Preds show up." As if on cue, the Maximal squid heard motor sounds. "Uh oh."

*******

            Taranchulas scurried towards the Delta Quadrant in beast mode to avoid the energon surge. He had also been alerted about the stasis pods in the area and he was not going to allow the Maximals to reach them first. He wasn't about to let Megatron get to them either, at least not until he had a chance to alter them for his own personal gain. When he got to the area, all he saw was one stasis pod.

            "Only one?" Taranchulas asked sounding disappointed. "Well, one pod is better than none I suppose." Taranchulas let out a low chuckle before beginning to check on the pod, not even thinking about checking the area for Maximals, for Claw Jaw was hiding behind a rock very close to his location along with the second pod.

            "Now," the spider cackled. "All I need to do is—" As if on cue, Megatron landed right in front of Taranchulas in his beast mode from a cliff side. The tyrant let out a roar while transforming to robot mode then walked over to his comrade.

            "Ah Taranchulas." He said. "How nice of you to guard the stasis pod until my arrival."

            Taranchulas sneered. He hated pretending to be loyal to the saurian but he had no choice… for now at least. Soon, he would be able to overthrow the tyrant and lead the Predacons in his place, but in the meantime, he had to be patient. "Uh, yes Megatron." He said. "The pod is yours to reprogram." The spider stood aside for Megatron to get to work.

The tyrant raised an eye ridge as he scurried by. Megatron knew that the spider was up to something. However, since he was useful when it came to technology and computer activity, he thought he'd play along with Taranchulas' 'loyalty'. After all, he learned that it was best to keep your friends close and his enemies even closer.

"Quickly!" Megatron ordered. "The Maximals could be here any minute. There is absolutely no way I will allow another Maximal to help those low ranked rookies in their search for Primal!" 

Taranchulas moved over to the pod and got to work. There was no way he could continue with his deception with Megatron standing over him. He'd have to reluctantly hand the protoform's life over to him and try to get it on his side later. 

Claw Jaw was shocked with what Megatron had said. 'Ah great!' he thought. 'Now ol' Megs knows what we're doin'. I've gots to get this proto-form online without them knowin'.'

*******

            Mantorr continued to fire at the Maximals. He had his enemies on the run from his razor blades and it felt good to him that he was winning. The green mantis chuckled to himself as he sent Bone Crusher flying into the newly dug trenches of his foes. 'This is easier than I thought.' Mantorr thought to himself. Then it hit him. He was actually winning. He was flinging the Maximals around like they were nothing. Something was different, and he knew what it was.

            'Megatron's not here…' Mantorr thought. 'I'm doing great in battle, and Megatron isn't around. Taranchulas is right. He's the reason why I haven't been at my best!' Mantorr was too busy in thought and trying to blast Taurus and Bone Crusher that he didn't notice that Caterina jumped from a cliff behind him and landed on the Predacon's back, which snapped him out of his thought.

            "HEY!!!" Mantorr began to concentrate on getting the new Maximal leader off of him. "What are you, a leach? GET OFF!!!" He received his answer when the cat leaped off just as he was shot in the back. The now-angered Praying Mantis glared at Taurus as he fired another one of his missile launchers and hit him dead on. Terrorsaur noticed the odd behaviour Mantorr was experiencing. The pterodactyl knew that he wouldn't he as stupid as to take himself off guard. However, he didn't have question it further when Wolf Fang tackled him down.

            "KEEP YOUR EYE ON THE TARGET, LEATHER MOUTH!" Terrorsaur took the opportunity to kick his enemy off of him. Wolf Fang then landed hard on a rock next to a hovering Inferno.

            "You shall burrrn for your crimes against the Royalty!" Inferno set his gun on fire and aimed it towards Wolf Fang. Bone Crusher grabbed a rock and threw it at the gun, plugging up the hole causing a back blast.

            "Can't you tell the difference between a Mech and a Femme?!" Bone Crusher then ran off as Scorpinok started firing at him, missing him every second.

*******

            The DNA scanner finished scanning the area for any life forms. Megatron was beginning to grow impatient as Taranchulas was working.

            "Can't you type those codes any faster?" Megatron growled in annoyance. The spider turned to his leader.

            "The DNA scanner is on the frits so I have absolutely no idea what type of life form it'll pick up." Taranchulas said. "We'll have to work with what we get." The pod finished downloading the DNA data it received from the scan.

            "DNA scan: completed. Replicating." Megatron and Taranchulas stepped back, as there was a blinding light. Claw Jaw sunk back behind the bolder he was hiding behind to shield himself. When the light faded, a cobra head emerged from the pod.

            "Ah, yesss." Megatron beamed. A snake will prove useful in the fight against the Maximals, especially if it was poisonous. Megatron was just about to greet the new Protoform when the rest emerged, which was a scorpion's body. The snake's head was merely connected to it. Megatron stepped back in shock as he came out of the pod.

            "Say now," the protoform said. "What in tarnation are you?"

            "I said that we'd have to work with what we've got." Taranchulas muttered to Megatron.

            "Indeed." Megatron cleared his throat and produced the famous smile. "Ah, yes. I am Megatron. Leader of the Predacons, which makes you my new comrade. And this here is Taranchulas."

            "You mean ta tell me that I'm one of you?"

            "Ah, so you weren't damaged in the crash. That is excellent news." Megatron was hoping that this strategy was working. Taranchulas only had time to change the activation code. The rest of the convincing was up to Megatron to do.

*******

            Claw Jaw sunk back down and crawled over to the hidden pod and turned on the system. "I've gotta git this here proto-form online before they's all realize." The Maximal squid began to work on the system and opened up a file.

            "Slag!" he said. "The dang D-N-A scanner ain't a-workin' right. Well, it'll hafta do." Claw Jaw pressed a few more buttons to make sure that the pod wasn't damaged in the crash.

*******

            Megatron and Taranchulas were too busy trying to convince the new protoform that he was a Predacon, they didn't notice that he was looking around as if he heard something. 

*******

            "Gee, what a day," Claw Jaw said as he read more information from the pod. "My friends are a-fightin' tha enemy, this pod has a dang slow D-N-A scanner and Megs knows 'bout our hidden 'genda!"

            "Care ta have a littl' help thare, partner?"

            "Yeah sure, thanks." Claw Jaw then froze. There was no other Maximal ordered to help him so who exactly was behind him? The Maximal slowly turned to find the protoform standing right behind him transformed.

            "Dang nation," Claw Jaw said. "It's almost like lookin' in a weird mirror." The protoform then revealed cobra-head arm and fired. Claw Jaw moved out of the way but his arm was hit with the blast and paralised. "Whoa, that's some do-hickey." Claw Jaw was able to dodge another blast and ran.

            "Hey!" The protoform yelled. "Git back here right now! You can't run and hid from Quickstrike!!!" With that, he ran after the Maximal. Megatron and Taranchulas came from behind the bolder in beast mode.

            "Well, it would seem that our new Predacon has found a target already, yesss." The tyrant turned to his comrade. "Let's see how this ends."

            Both Predacons started laughing as they moved forward, not even noticing the stasis pod beginning to scan for life forms.

            Claw Jaw knew that Quickstrike was chasing after him but only two things mattered to him right now: 1, getting the poison off his arm and 2, getting the new Pred away from the pod. If the Predacons got a hold of the protoform inside, then there would be no doubt that the Maximals would never win another fight again. The Maximal squid didn't notice the little rock in front of him until he tripped over it and tumbled to the ground. Quickstrike slowed down and chuckled to himself.

            "That all ya got, partner?"

            Just then, the poison on the Maximal's arm disappeared and Claw Jaw was able to grab his ink gun and fire at Quickstrike's optics.

            "ACK!!! Why you good-fer-nuthin' Squid-face!"

            Claw Jaw quickly ran around a corner and stopped to catch his breath as the fuzor desperately tried to remove the ink off of his face. The Maximal sighed of relief but panicked when he turned to run and saw Megatron and Taranchulas transformed.

            "Going somewhere?" Megatron asked as Taranchulas chuckled evilly. Megatron raised his charged weapon at his enemy.

*******

            The stasis pod's scanner shut off and slowly went back into its slot. "DNA scan: Completed. Replicating." After a few seconds, the pod hatch opened.

            Quickstrike was finally able to get rid of the ink. He looked around to find no one else there. "Where are ya, Squid-face?"

            As if on cue, Claw Jaw was suddenly blasted out of his hiding place and into the side of another cliff. Out emerged Megatron and Taranchulas.

            "Did you really think that you could escape from us?"

            "Well… it was worth a shot." Claw Jaw failed to get back up after Taranchulas kicked his shin.

            "Foolish Maximal." Taranchulas aimed his weapon at the weakened Maximal when Megatron stepped in front of him.

            "No," he ordered. "I shall handle this myself." Megatron then charged up his weapon again.

            "Cease and desist, vile villain!"

            All four transformers turned to the direction the voice came from. Far in the distance was a figure, a pair of wings flapped in the wind as it came closer to where the others were standing. As it came further, it was revealed to be a silver wolf with eagle wings and talons for his front legs and wolf legs for his hind legs.

            "Silverbolt, Maximize!" The protoform then transformed to robot mode and landed right in front of the awestruck group before him.

            "YEE HAW!" Claw Jaw beamed. "He's one of our boys!!!"

            The Maximal called Silverbolt then took two wing missiles and fired them at the Predacons, missing Megatron.

            "You had chosen the wrong side Maximal scum!" Before Megatron could retaliate, Claw Jaw shot him from behind and knocked him down. Taranchulas and Quickstrike struggled to get back on their feet from the blast when Megatron turned to them. "Quickly! Return to beast mode. Fall back at once!" All three Predacons transformed and headed back to base. Claw Jaw waited for them to be out of distance before getting back up. Silverbolt walked towards them.

            "Hey, thanks partner." Claw Jaw said.

            "It was nothing my friend." Silverbolt replied. The then turned to the distance and at the invisible enemy. "Three against one is never a fair odd."

            Claw Jaw looked at his new comrade oddly for a moment then shook it off. "Uh…yeah what you said. C'mon we's gots ta see if the others are alright."

*******

            Caterina was facing off with Blackarachnia in battle. "You can't win, Maximal." The Black widow sneered.

            "Of course I'll win," Caterina said. "Good will always beat evil. It's just matter of time before you acknowledge it." Blackarachnia charged towards her but Caterina flipped her over her head and watched her hit the ground with a thump. "See."

            Taurus and Wolf Fang got ready to fight Mantorr. Their weapons had been damaged during the fight and their last resort was hand-to-hand combat. Mantorr was about to make his move until Megatron showed up.

            "Predacons, fall back at once. We have what we came for!" He then charged away with Taranchulas and what looked like a new Predacon following behind him. Terrorsaur pushed Bone Crusher away and ran flew off after his leader.

            "Hey, hey, hey, the party over already?" Scorpinok and Inferno picked up pieces of Waspinator and ran off after the others. Mantorr picked up the fallen widow by Caterina and took off after his comrades, leaving Caterina and the others standing alone in complete shock. The Maximal leader's comlink came online.

            "Claw Jaw ta Boss lady, come in." 

"Report Claw Jaw." Caterina didn't look at her comlink but answered it.

"Well, we's gots a new comrade!"

Caterina's optics looked like they were ready to pop out of her head. "Really! A new comrade!!!"

"Yep."

"Well, that is good news." Wolf Fang said. "Looks like our group just increased."

"Er, eh, only my one there." Claw Jaw stated. "Them dang Preds got a hold of the other pod."

"Ok, that's six for us. But the Preds now have…" Bone Crusher began to think about how many Predacons there were now. "Let's see, Megatron, Inferno, Scorpin—"

"There are now 9 Preds." Taurus said irritated.

"ANYWAY!!!" Caterina said. "We have a new comrade to show around, and a stasis pod to deal with. Bone Crusher, Taurus, you two go over to Delta Quadrant and get that pod. The rest of us will head back to base."

The Maximals went their different ways and headed to their destination.

*******

            Mantorr was headed to his quarters after he had finished his repairs. His mind was full of the events that occurred during battle. "Hmmm…other than the out come, this battle was my best yet. I was able to do more damage than I have been able to do before. If Megatron hadn't ordered us to retreat, then I would have won the battle." 

Mantorr then stopped in his tracks. "But Megatron wasn't exactly battling with us when I was at my best. Taranchulas might be right, it does depend on the competence of the leader. And if that is the case, then Megatron must be over thrown soon, if I'm gonna be the greatest fighter in the Beast Wars." Mantorr then entered his quarters and the door automatically slammed shut.

__________________________________________________________________________________

            Well, sorry for the late update. Hope it was well worth it. Oh yeah, note: Silverbolt and Quickstrike look the same except they're not Transmetals. Please Review.


	8. A Night to Think

Author's Note: Sorry for the late update. I've been working yes I have a job.

Disclaimer: Lawyers are surrounding Wicked Woman WW: ### LEAVE ME ALONE I DON'T OWN BEAST WARS!!! Lawyers run away screaming about rabid teen

* * *

The sky turned orange and red as the sun began to lower on the horizon. The clouds in the sky began to darken as they moved closely together. Wind flew through the trees in the forest as the temperature got lowered and the air got colder. 

A little bird was hiding in a nest that was made on one of the branches on a tree. It became frightened as the light faded and became got darker. The young bird would've shrunk even lower if it could. The breeze of the wind blew hard by the poor little creature and it fell helplessly to the ground only to be caught by a metal hand. The red and yellow bird looked up and found a pair of red optics staring back at it. The bird cheeped in panic.

"It ok, don't worry. I'm a good guy…er bot."

Caterina sat down with her back leaning on the tree next to her.

"You lost huh?"

The bird cheeped once.

"Don't worry." She said. "Me and my friends are lost too."

* * *

There was some serious construction happening at the Maximal base for the next few days. The Maximals were able to get the two stasis pods after their recent fight for them. The bad news was that the Predacons now had 9 comrades while they only had 6. However, there was good news: the pods computer system was still functional. Taurus was able to increase the security system and other programs by 20 as well as most of the pods as attachments to the base for protection. 

Taurus, Wolf Fang, and their newest comrade, Silverbolt, were working on the outside of the base to get the new and improved auto guns up to defend the base from intruders.

"There, auto gun number 3's installed." Taurus had just finished pushing in another auto gun when it suddenly went off and nearly hit Wolf Fang, catching him off guard and causing him to fall. Silverbolt placed down a tool and flew down to catch him.

"Hey!" Wolf Fang said sarcastically. "Ya wanna watch it? You could've hurt somebody."

Taurus couldn't help but laugh. It was great that they had time to breathe, since the Preds hadn't attacked for a while, which gave them a chance to add things to the base, but it also worried him. Megatron would've never given them all a chance to relax like this.

'He's up to something.' He thought.

* * *

"Aw, you look like little baby." Caterina gently stroked the bird's stomach with her index finger. "You must be little baby." The bird chirped in response. Caterina thought for a second before she spoke again. 

"That means you lost from mommy and daddy." The young Maximal feline could relate. In Earth years she was only about 13 years old. She could understand how a child could feel being separated from the ones she cared about the most, even if it never happened to her.

"Your home must be nearby." She said. Caterina then looked up and noticed a small nest far near the top. The turned to her new feathered friend. "See, told you."

* * *

Terrorsaur's optics glanced around the table, as did Waspinator's, Scorpinok's and Mantorr's. Five cards each in their hands and a huge pile of energon in the middle. One of them wasn't backing down. 

"Read it and weep folks." Terrorsaur lowered his hands to reveal five Aces. The other three lowered their hands and heads in shame as the red Predacon grabbed the pile of energon. "Better luck next time bots."

Scorpinok then noticed something underneath one of the cards that Terrorsaur had laid down. He lifted it up and another card laid fell down. It was the three of clubs. He knew what had happened.

"You cheating Bastard." He yelled.  
"What?"  
"You cheated! You don't cheat in a poker game for energon."  
"Ah you're just jealous cuz I won."

That was enough. Scorpinok leaped onto Terrorsaur and began trying to pummel him. Waspinator watched in awe while Mantorr took a look at the cards and found what Scorpinok found.

"Shell's right." He yelled. "He did cheat!" With that, Waspinator and Mantorr attacked Terrorsaur.

* * *

Claw Jaw and Bone Crusher had come to help the others with the repairs two megacycles ago. The job was getting done faster than it would have without them. All they had to do now was test it. 

"Are you all positive that this will work?" Silverbolt asked.

"Relax Hombre. Taurus had done this several times. There's nothin' ta worry about."

As Claw Jaw finished his sentence, Taurus activated the autoguns and they fired right at them. By the time the autoguns were deactivated everyone was behind either a rock, a tree or a bush.

"Nothing to worry about?" Silverbolt asked while raising an eye ridge.

"Ok… maybe there are some miscalculations." Claw Jaw said meekly.

"Even I say that this is a death tr—." Bone Crusher started.

"Will you guys just shut up?!" Taurus snapped.

* * *

One step on the branch, a hand on another branch. Caterina slowly climbed up the tree while holding onto the bird in her free hand. 'Don't look down' was the only thing on her mind as she proceeded up towards her destination. After a while, she decided to take a break and sat on one of the branches. When she was sure she was balanced, she looked back at the bird. 

"You lucky. You lucky you don't need get in fight to survive. All you do is try flapping your wings."

She sighed as she looked up and saw the moon. It had been megacycles since the wind had died down and the clouds had moved away from each other. She had been away from the others for megacycles and hadn't reported back. She was ok with it. It wasn't like she screamed 'OOOH! I WANNA BE LEADER' in fact, she had been the only one against it since she pulled out the longest shard after they settled into their hand made base. She didn't even thing her leadership could help the Maximals find this Optimus Primal bot…if he still even existed.

The baby bird's chirp snapped the young Maximal leader out of her thoughts. "Well, break time over." She picked up the bird. "Time to get you home." She then began to climb up again until she found the nest. She placed her hand with the bird on it next to the nest and waited until it walked back onto it's home. Caterina then slowly climbed back down until she felt the leaves on the ground. As soon as her hands were off the tree, energon build up became the issue. After transforming to beast mode, the young Jaguar looked back up and smiled at her new little friend.

This made her remember what she was fighting for in the war. A chance to save her friends and comrades from the Predacon's threat. This was her goal, this was her reason to fight, this was the only reason why she would be leader, at least until someone better came along. The took one last glance at nest above before rushing off into the light and speeding off.

The sun was beginning to rise and the golden raise hit the forest making everything brighter than it had been that night. The baby bird chirped happily as its mother returned glad to see that her baby had survived the night. A night that gave at least one person something to think about.

* * *

This sort of thing isn't usually me but I did my best. Please review. 


	9. A Whole New Chapter pt 1

Ok, this is my latest chapter of Beast Wars AU. Enjoy.

Disclaimer: I don't own Beast Wars.

* * *

The cool blue ocean water rippled as the bright sun shun on the afternoon sky. The sound of nature was all around the area as the waves moved back and forth on the ground.

Bone Crusher had to once again pull his hoof out of the muddy sand. This was a most displeasing moment of him. Claw Jaw emerged from the water in beast mode and looked towards his comrade. They had both been there for hours and they hadn't found a single thing.

"Another lead down tha drain." Claw Jaw exclaimed. " 'seems like whenever we find a clue as to where he is, it just leads us further inta a dead end."

Bone Crusher was more concerned with the sand in his hoof than in the search.

"Hey! BC! Ya listenin' or what?"

Bone Crusher looked up. "Huh? Wha? Oh, yeah. Did ya find anything down there?"

The pink and red squid moved over to the ox and used one of his tentacles to slap him upside the head. "This here is a ser-e-ous matter. If we find Primal, we'll be able to figger out more about Megatron."

"No one knows anything about that guy except that he took his bigheaded name from his bigheaded idol, the bigheaded leader of the Decepticons!" Bone Crusher snapped back. "Besides, how the slag do we know that Megatron hasn't already killed him for trying to stop his plan to rule the universe?"

"He ain't tha ruler yet!" Claw Jaw said before taking in a deep breath to calm himself down. "Look, we's been a-workin' too hard. I say we both take a liddl' break and pick up where we left off oh say… fifteen cycles."

Both gave each other a nod before sitting down to relax and relieve some tension between the two.

* * *

Taurus was scanning the new data that he had received from one of the pieces of the Axalon. Hacking the system and downloading the file while decrypting the codes wasn't very easy to do. It wasn't helping that whenever he entered the wrong code, he had to start all over again. He had lost count of how many times he had to start again after 500.

"Ay Carumba, it's as if they had a better security grid." He muttered to himself. He finally went through the download without a single mistake and got the file uploaded. This was one of those times where Taurus wished that he drank cyber caffeine but now wasn't the time to worry about it. Right now he had received a file and hoped that it would help in the war.

After entering the system, he found that it was only a list of names of the crew members who were functional on the Axalon, possibly after they had landed on the planet.

After pressing a few buttons, Taurus was able to get to the crew's files, with their names, they're photo and any information about them. 'Maybe there are more Maximals.' He thought. His face fell after reading that there were 50 stasis pods aboard the ship and that the records indicated that they were launched into space. "Should've known it would be too easy." At least seven pods that he knew of had been found so he figured that forty-two were still out there somewhere. He shook off that thought before turning his attention back to the computer. A photo was being displayed on the screen before him. It was vague but Taurus was able to make it out.

The picture was of a grey, black and red mech, male. But before any information could be given, the power cut out, shutting down the computer, the bot-made CR chamber, the security systems and also, the photo on the screen.

Taurus looked around the now darkened area but saw that everything looked find.

The fuse was fine.  
The systems were up to date, as far as he could make it.  
He wasn't using the security grid on anyone.  
A metal spider was carrying out energon...

'wait.' He though. 'A metal spider carrying out energon!!!'

Taurus quickly rose to his feet and began chasing after the spider. The spider quickly dropped what was left of the energon and ran off. The black and silver Maximal quickly darted after the bug but was unable to catch up to it. When he thought that he had it, the spider darted out of the way, leaving Taurus to trip over his own feet, slide into the wall of the cave and fell backwards onto the ground.

Taurus lifted his head up to see the spider scurry away. "I…_HATE_…spiders."

* * *

A loud chuckle came out of Tarantulas as he watched the Maximal scramble and scurry after what he couldn't possibly catch up to. Preventing the Maximals to find any more information was what he was order to do by Megatron… but it didn't mean he couldn't have a little bit of fun doing it. Tarantulas then calmed himself down just as the Tyrant showed up.

"Tarantulas," he said. "When I ordered you to prevent any further information to be found by the Maximals, I had not expected that you'd try something like this. Though I must admit these new Maximals are somewhat… amusing, yeesss."

Both Predacons watched as the Maximals got back up and continued to chase the little but.

"Although their persistence could be a threat for us." Megatron added. "I'll simply have to do more than just pull the plug on their power…" He then turned on the comlink. "All Predacon units, come in. I want you to find any Maximal in your vicinity and have them eliminated. Megatron out."

Megatron then stood up and turned to Tarantulas. "You stay put and make sure that the Maximal is unable to activate any back up power." He then left Tarantulas to his own devices. The Spider merely muttered something about Megatron being an old tyrant before continuing with his new little 'game'.

* * *

There was absolutely nothing different about the area. The only thing he could find that didn't belong there were Claw Jaw's hands when he was trying to get low enough to him and the print on the edge of the cliff edge where Bone Crusher laid while holding his comrade by the legs so he wouldn't slip.

He was on the side of the cliff where he had been found and brought up. He remembered being badly damaged by Megatron and was dropped down. What he wanted to know was what how he survived. He had felt a hand grab onto him as he was falling to his doom. He knew it couldn't have been Claw Jaw or he would've been dragged up the cliff at that time. Instead, he was told that he was found on a ledge before the cliff. After snapping out of his flashback, he looked up to see another ledge a few feet above him. He climbed up and found a pair of footprints in the position of someone crouching. The prints were faint but he could make them out. Then, before he could consider anything more…

"Wolf Fang! Come on! We looking for clues remember!!"

Wolf Fang looked up from where he was and began to climb back up. Whatever he was looking for would have to wait until later when he could come back again and think.

Caterina picked up another piece of metal found where the Axalon was before it left. She had a huge bunch of items in her hands and was struggling not to drop any of them. When she tried to catch a burnt out disk everything she was holding onto fell to the ground. The young Maximal leader started to pick up the items again when Wolf Fang made it to the top and went to help her.

"Yay you hear me!" she said, forgetting that she dropped the pieces to an unsolved puzzle. Silverbolt landed just beside them.

"Commander." He said before getting a stern look from Caterina. Clearing his throat, the fuzor continued. "I am having difficulty contacting Taurus. The system must be down."

"Or Taurus turn off comlinks just to get peace and quiet." Caterina suggested. Seeing the concerned look on the newest comrade's face, she sighed. "Ok, we go see if Taurus ok." Just as she got up a missile hit in front of her. Out came Waspinator.

"Successzzz! Wazzzpinator get Commander Catbot!"

Waspinator continued to cheer with glee. Little did he realize that Caterina was still standing. The missile he had shot at her only hit about five feet away from her. She brought out her gut gun and fired at the wasp, hitting his wing and sending him spiralling to the ground.

"Wazzzpinator didn't know that even catbot was better than Wazzzpinator."

Caterina walked towards the Predacon. "Of course I better than you!"

"Now _I'm_ starting to worry about Taurus and the base." Wolf Fang muttered to Silverbolt. Both were then nearly hit with a green beam. Quickstrike emerged from a rock wall.

"Well, lookie what we've got here." He said. "Three Maxis outside of their base waitin' ta be destroyed. I guess that'll teach ya ta rebel 'gainst ol' Megatron."

"You would've rebelled against him too had Tarantulas not altered your programming." Silverbolt stated. "You could've helped us stop him."

"But now I'm stoppin' you! Ain't that ironic." Quickstrike fired more poison causing Silverbolt and Wolf Fang to take cover from behind the bolders.

"I don't suppose you have any better plans, do ya?" Wolf Fang asked.

"I was hoping that was all it would take." Silverbolt replied.

Caterina saw her friends were in trouble and hurried over to help but ran into Blackarachnia.

"Well, well, we meet again." She said before firing at her. Caterina dodged the blast and hit the ground before the cliff edge.

"Look," Caterina said. "If this about time I call you 'guy', I sorry." She had to roll out of the way to prevent the she-spider's foot from crushing her face. She rose into a crouching position and tried to pull her gun but realized that it wasn't there.

Blackarachnia cackled evilly. "Just like the last kitty cat." She said.

* * *

Tarantulas watched as Taurus slowly crawled towards the little metal spider, ready to pounce on it and make sure that it never tried to pull the plug on one of his programs again. Just when he thought he had the upper hand, the spider scurried away again, leaving the black and silver Maximal to land on his face.

"I'm gonna get that slaggen spider if it's the last thing I do." He muttered under his breath.

"That will clearly be impossible Maximal," Tarantulas sneered at the screen. "Every time you get close enough to my little toy, it just scurries itself to safety." He then began to laugh manically.

Megatron heard the Spider's cackling through his doors while taking a soak in his energon bath. He would have thought that Tarantulas would've been done his mission cycles ago.

'That spider's cackling, will be the death of me.' He thought to himself. Megatron then sank back into his bath, hoping that he would relax enough to block out Tarantulas' senseless and annoying laughter.

* * *

Bone Crusher woke up from his nap and noticed Claw Jaw was sitting by the ocean throwing rocks that bounced on the waves. He got up and walked over to his comrade. After getting close enough to him, he transformed to robot mode and picked up a stone.

"I know that our little break's almost over." Claw Jaw said. "But I'd like a few more minutes, if it's alright with you."

"Sure."

Claw Jaw threw another stone across the ocean. Bone Crusher tried but the stone only fell into the water and sunk to the bottom. Claw Jaw saw it sink and handed him another stone. "Try holding it between your thumb and index finger." He said. "The throw it with a curve."

Bone Crusher complied to the suggestion and threw it. The stone bounced twice before sinking down.

"You'll get better." Claw Jaw said. "All it takes is practice and patience."

"Who taught you?"

"My big brother. We both travelled with our creators to other planets on diplomatic missions. He taught me how ta skip stones on the ocean without it sinkin' to tha bottom when it first hits. It was a way for us to have fun when we were alone."

Bone Crusher looked down and picked up another stone.

"I keep on hopin' that we do find Optimus. I believe that he knows a way ta win this war and help us get back to Cybertron." Claw Jaw stated. "Ta tell ya tha truth, I'm startin' ta get a liddl' homesick."

Bone Crusher didn't know what to say. He hadn't wondered who would've missed him while he was gone. If anyone would wonder where he went or when he would be back or if he would return alive. None of those questions had come to mind while he fought in the war. Bone Crusher realized that he didn't know how he felt about the battles that he fought or why he was actually still fighting. Was it for friends, family, love? He didn't know any answers to them. Was this why he fought, for answers?

"Hey, ya listenin' 'BC?" Claw Jaw asked him.

Bone Crusher snapped out of his little world and turned to his comrade.

"Do ya know where your bother was the last time you saw him? He asked.

Claw Jaw threw another stone before answering. "We both had made it into the Cybertronian academy. We were both gonna warriors. My brother and I were both in basic training until we passed it. They then split us up during combat training and I never saw 'im since." He sighed as he remembered his passed.

"I don't think we'd be able to recognize each other if you introduced us to one another." He chuckled.

"Well, I'm gonna see that day." Bone Crusher said. "I'm havin' a lot of difficulty trying to find out why I'm fighting. But that won't stop me from helping those who know their reason."

Before he could finish, Bone Crusher noticed something coming towards them, something red. Then two things red. One of them raising their arm and something flying out of it. Bone Crusher pulled Claw Jaw out of the way and both moved away from the identified missile and hit the ground.

Both of them heard laughter as Inferno and Terrorsaur appeared.

"FOR THE GLORY OF THE ROYALTY!!!" Inferno yelled.

"Let's get outta here!" Claw Jaw yelled. Both turned to leave but ran into Mantorr and Scorpinok.

"We're surrounded!" Bone Crusher turned on his comlink. "Bone Crusher to base, Claw Jaw and I are surrounded by Predacon activity!" Only static was heard. "I repeat, were are heavily surrounded by Predacons!"

All four Predacons began to open fire.

"Better save it fer later BC!!" This time, it was Claw Jaw's turn to pull Bone Crusher out of the way. Both Maximals ducked in cover of the blast and made a move to get to higher ground.

Claw Jaw and Bone Crusher hid behind a cliff ledge as the Predacons continued to fire at them.

"Remind me neva ta talk 'bout my history 'gain!" He yelled.

The Predacons kept firing at the Maximals until Mantorr was shot in the back.

"Hey! Watch where ya shootin'!" Mantorr yelled to Scorpinok.

"I didn't fire at you!" Suddenly, Scorpinok was shot down.

"Who's there?" Terrorsaur yelled.

"Burn for your interference." Inferno raised his weapon up to fire but it was shot out of his hand. He prepared his second gun and was about to fire but the gun moved and almost set Terrorsaur on fire.

"They must have more comrades out here than we thought." Mantorr said.

Terrorsaur lifted himself in the air. "Withdraw at once!"

"I'm second in command here!" Scorpinok exclaimed. "I give the orders." Suddenly, a bolder above them was shot at, causing it to fall and hit Scorpinok. "PREDACONS!!! WITHDRAW AT ONCE!!!"

All four Predacons ran away from the area, leaving Bone Crusher and Claw Jaw to come out of hiding dumfounded.

"What in tarnation was that?"

"Back up?"

"But we didn't contact anyone. Something screwy's goin' on at base and the others are miles away."

"You don't think whatever helped Wolf Fang just helped us?"

"I won't say anythang if you don't say anythang."

"Deal."

Both transformed to beast mode and hurried back to base.

* * *

Blackarachnia just threw Caterina over to where Silverbolt and Wolf Fang were hiding and gave herself an opening where her blast wouldn't miss.

"Well Maximals," she said. "It's been fun." She prepared to fire on the Maximals when Wolf Fang finally took out his gun and shot the weapon out of her hand then shot her, sending her flying into Waspinator. Quickstrike was now majorly outnumbered.

"Well be back for ya Maxis. Jist you wait an' see." Before Quickstrike could say another work all three of them aimed their weapons at him.

"I'll be back!" All three Predacons then retreated.

Silverbolt, Caterina and Wolf Fang put away their weapons and transformed to beast mode.

"Gee Wolf Fang, could you cut it closer?"

Wolf Fang turned to his commander. "I try not to use my weapon on weak opponents. Doing such would lack a warrior's sense of honor."

Caterina raised an eye ridge as Silverbolt transformed to beast mode.

"Come. We must return to base and make sure Taurus is alright." Silverbolt suggested. "This may have been a trick so Megatron could infiltrate the base."

"Nah, it done already." Caterina shook the idea out of her head. "But we'd better check anyway." She then turned to Wolf Fang who was once again, staring into space. "Wolf Fang. Come on!"

Wolf Fang shook away his thoughts and followed the others back to base as an unknown character secretly followed.

* * *

The metal spider hadn't seen Taurus try to tackle him for quite some time. It began to creep back to where the energon stash was and to complete the mission that it was on.

On the Predacon screen, Tarantulas manoeuvred the spider on where to go making sure it didn't run into any surprises along the way.

The spider crept closer and closer to the energon. Just as he orderedthe spiderto continueto obtain the stash when smash! The metal box landed on the spider causing the computer screen in front of Tarantulas to go to static.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!" Tarantulas bellowed from his seat.

* * *

Back at base, Taurus moved the box he hadused ashis own weaponto see that the spider was in little pieces on the floor. He began to dance around excitedly.

"WOOOOOHOOOOOOO!!!" he cheered! "I got him! I finally got that little piece of scrap metal! No one defeats the mighty Taurus! MWAHAHAHAHAHAH!" He turned around to see that the rest of the Maximals were looking at him as if he had lost his mind. The black and silver maximal cleared his throat.

"I was uh, talking about the purple metal spider." He said. "It was trying to steal the energon that powers up the base."

The others looked at their comrade as if he had lost a few circuits.

"Well," Bone Crusher finally broke the silence. "Stranger things have happened."

Caterina and Silverbolt placed the equipment they hadn't lost in battle over by a corner as Wolf Fang went to straight to his room. Claw Jaw and Bone Crusher walked over to Taurus and found the metal spider on the ground.

"Well," Claw Jaw said. "I guess Ol' Megatron had us figgered. Without the energon, we'd have no power to fuel up the base we'd be sittin' ducks."

"Yeah, seeing as the Preds attacked Wolf Fang, me and Silverbolt."

"Yeah, them varmets dun attacked me and BC here."

"I'll get the system up and running then I'll try and figure out a fail safe program for the energon." Taurus said.

"K." Caterina then picked up the pieces of the metal spider and walked outside.

* * *

The sun had long since set on the horizon. The air was cooler as the clouds began to form as if trying to hide the two moons from the world below. Caterina stood in the cannon where she had dumped Taurus' little spidery playmate. As she turned to head back, the new Maximal Commander sensed that she was being watched. When she looked up, nothing seemed to be there except the dusty sand, grass and the trees that loomed over the canon. However, she still felt that oddly enough, eyes were watching her. After making sure that the bug was still in pieces on the ground, she slowly went back to the base, stepped inside and closed the newly installed doors.

**To Be Continued…**

* * *

Ok, my first real cliff hanger for this fic. Hope you like it. This is part of a two or three parted chapter. 


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